Mín Englisc Blog

After rain yesterday, I returned to mowing today, with two yards done. Last night was my Meteorology class again. The instructor is able to demonstrate and explain his stuff well (although he takes long enough to do it that we are rather behind), as well as being quite funny at times. Last night we saw a series of pictures of his toddler daughter, many of which showed his wife too.
Tonight is the first of the presidential debates. According to a Fox News poll, nearly twenty percent of voters are willing to change their vote depending on their perception of the candidates. I just can't see this debate being very vigourous; the rules to which the candidates have agreed set strict time limits and require the speaker to stand at the podium — no sitting down or walking around.

Not much new to post about this morning. Today will see a bit of mowing, the class tonight, and maybe some other stuff. What we will not see is decent weather. Hopefully we receive a little more warm weather so I can mow a few more times before the winter.

In Yemen, a judge has sentenced six men accused of being members of al-Qaida. Their crime was playing various roles in the attack on the US destroyer Cole five years ago in Aden harbor. Two of them, believed to be the masterminds, have been sentenced to death, while the others have received various other sentences for playing lesser roles. The two men on the boat that actually hit Cole were killed in that explosion.

Is anyone reading? Maybe I've just been putting up boring posts and that's why noöne is commenting.
We had a good troop meeting tonight; although no work on advancement was completed, we received a demonstration on packing items for camping trips. With the measure of confusion last weekend, we needed a review of this sort.
Must get busy! More tomorrow.

I just returned from my first real OSU class. Although I did learn some things, much was review (what is mass, what is density, etc.) I learned a bit about the instructor. He has a distinct tendency to digress onto tangents, among other things; among these was a story about his learning the difference between kilometers and miles. When he first bought a car in America, he assumed that the spedometer measured kilometers; as a result, he was much surprised at how fast "80" was.
Please pray for a relation of mine, Lydia Pokrass. She is the widow of my grandfather's first cousin — in other words, first cousin-in-law twice removed. Just very recently, the last of her ten siblings passed away; she's now left alone at the age of 90. Pray for her spiritual state, too; she professes Christ but does not (last that I heard) attend church. Of her three children, at least one faithfully attends a church — but it's a kind of Eastern Orthodox.

Since this is the last week of the month, we had the customary lunch at church. Although many of the congregation were ill, we still had forty-four people there. One family who have visited occasionally from the northwest corner of the state were there. They now hope to attend on the last week of each month.
Finally, the photo directory is altogether done. Mr. Bump gave us the final, laminated copy a few days ago, and today it was first exhibited at church. I have now received fourteen requests for copies. Would any of you like one? It's free; I would pay both printing and postage costs.

Blogs
1. Katie: 6.
2. Charity: 4.
3. Nathan: 7, 1 picture.
4. Joseph: 14.
5. Anna: 7, 3 pictures.
6. Becca: 39, 36 pictures.
7. David: 5, 1 poll.
8. Brian: 4.
9. Daniel: At least 16, 1 picture.
10. Abby: 1.
11. Rebekah: 2.
12. Grace: 0. Last post 13 September.
13. Allen: 0. Last post 9 September.
14. Jill: 0. Last post 22 August.

Without a doubt, the weekend was the best event I've had while in BSA. With thirteen boys, we had more than twice as many at last year's Fall Camporee, and we were also the largest troop present. We went from competition to competition in our two patrols (groups making up a troop), the Hawks and Frogs. I, by the way, was with the Hawks. Competitions ranged from playing Frisbee Golf with boomerangs to making and carrying stretchers. We also learned to use flint and steel to start fires and built a large bonfire for the closing ceremony. Our troop, as well, took top awards. The Frogs were third best among all patrols in the competitions, and the Hawks were first. As well, several boys passed many rank requirements. We should have three rank advancements within a month or so.
Thanks for praying for the weather — no weather could have been better suited!

Sorry for another short post, but I'm about to go. The local BSA council's Fall Camporee starts tonight, and we have to be in Rushsylvania at 5:00. Pray for decent weather — the last two camporees have seen horrible storms.

Hmm. I'm rather sure that yesterday was the first without a post since at least last month. I really MUST post earlier in the day!
Yesterday was rather busy, of course. I had no mowing; however, the entire morning and part of the afternoon were taken up by a trip to Bellefontaine for Dad to buy some coffee and a new printer, and for me to buy the book for my class at OSU and to see where I would take the class. Then, last night, I actually started the class. We did absolutely no work last night; it was a time of getting acquainted with the professor (a Korean) and of him getting acquainted with us. Besides giving a syllabus and his policies, he (to show us his homeland) showed us a video of South Korea.
Today has been a bit more normal: two lawns mown. We were in Bellefontaine all morning again; our homeschool group has a bowling day on the third Thursday of each month, and after that we went to the YMCA, where I swam for a while.

How often does this happen? Ivan, having dumped rain on most of the eastern United States, went out to sea, turned south into the Gulf of Mexico, and has reformed for a hit on Louisiana or Texas. According to an expert, such a thing has never happened during the forty years that we have had weather satellites.

Post quickly because I have a troop meeting to attend. Today had rather little interesting except for two lawns mown.
I forgot to mention some changes recently in the RPCNA. In case anyone didn't hear, Brad Johnston was ordained and installed at the Walton, NY, RPC on Friday night, and Andy McCracken has been called from Elkhart to Columbus. There's one other change, but I don't have time.

Finally. I don't know how long it was before this finally got through. No wonder Glenn Reynolds gave up on Blogger. Of course, it is free; slightly spotty service is better than no service.
Well, whadda you know. CBS has finally gotten around to acknowledging that the Bush memos were faked. Now we may see if Rather will take the fall for the scandal. Without a doubt, in a country with an impartial mainstream media, a company like CBS would be considered a supporter of the Aristocrat party. Meanwhile, they still stand by their main story: that Bush failed to stand by his duties. When the only papers supporting an idea are realized to have been fakes, and there are many papers opposing the idea, why would an impartial reporter even consider the idea? Anyone can see that CBS is still trying to discredit Bush at the expense of impartiality.
A funeral is normally a sad time; the happy funeral is a rare occasion.
Mom and Isaac started school today. What a strange feeling, to see them do school and know that I won't be doing any of it. Of course, I begin my class at Ohio State on Wednesday night. Just think: I'm about to begin college. Wow.
Cincinnati, playing on the primetime Sunday Night Football last night, pulled out a victory against Miami with a game-ending field goal. This was the first time in their several years at Paul Brown Stadium that the game has been visible locally.

The sermon today, which looked at the end of chapter sixteen and all of chapter seventeen of Numbers, contained what I believe to be one of the most horrible parts of the Bible. Granted, it is nothing like Christ's Passion, but it still is dreadful. Numbers xvi.46: "Wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has started." Just think about the horror of that statement: "the plague has started." I chill just reading that sentence. Can we not just imagine the horror (for this feeling I know no other word) of Moses talking to Aaron: The Israelites have completely rejected him and God. At this point, God in awful anger orders Moses and Aaron away so as to save them while God destroys the entire nation. And God does not kill them in a peaceful way, nor even by a (normally) impossible way like opening the earth, but in a way all know and dread: a plague. And just imagine Aaron's feelings, too. He is being told to brave the wrath of God to save people (who hate him) from a terrible death, one he might die as a result. "The PLAGUE has started!"

Yet, thanks be to God, for he saw the atonement in Christ typified by Aaron running with the incense. 14,700 died, but (including Korah's followers) less than 15,000 of the people died. Compare that to 603,550 (the total census result) and see that even despite the wicked rebellion, less than 2.5% of the Israelites perished.

Mrs. Rutherford, the widow of our late elder Mel Rutherford, visited here with her daughter and son-in-law. Since they moved to the Home over a year ago, they have been trying to sell her house. After worship, they came here to eat lunch and to visit for a short period.
As well, I finished our congregation's photo directory today. A bit smaller than those of the Indianapolis congregations, ours is just one double-sided piece of paper with a total of nineteen photographs and fifty people. I plan to make enough copies for at least everyone in the congregation. Anyone want a copy?

Blogs

1. David: 5.
2. Katie: 8.
3. Nathan: 5, 1 picture.
4. Charity: 4.
5. Anna: 9, 5 pictures.
6. Daniel: At least 14, 1 picture. Computer will not display the entire page.
7. Joseph: 7.
8. Abby: 3.
9. Becca: 7, 4 pictures.
10. Rebekah: 2.
11. Grace: 3.
12. Brian: 0. Last post 10 September
13. Allen: 0. Last post 9 September
14. Jill: 0. Last post 22 August

We all went to the service last night, where the Rev. Gordon Keddie was installed as pastor at Southside. Since most readers went, I'll describe it for David's sake. We arrived about 2:40 so that Dad could attend the 3:00 Presbytery meeting. While that was going on, Mom and Isaac and I walked to the Rays' house. Joseph answered the door and promptly became speechless for several seconds, as I had not told him that I wanted to show up. As it turned out, Mom and Isaac walked back while I stayed there for a couple of hours. After a 5:30 dinner for out-of-town guests, the service started at 7:00. Rev. Ralph Joseph, the Moderator of Synod, was supposed to preach; however, the hurricane kept him in Selma. As a result, Dad preached the main sermon with about eleven hours' notice. We stayed for nearly two hours after the service was done before leaving for home. I met plenty of people; they were mostly adults, such as Mrs. Tweed, Mr. and Mrs. Sheldrake, and Mrs. Cerbus. It was difficult to meet many teens, as I know most of them already. However, I did meet Katie Bussell; she was the only blogger I read whom I had never met. With the time difference and the 160+ mile trip, it was 2:20 here by the time we got home.

...again in Indiana. We should be leaving late in the morning. See you there!
Sign seen in Florida: "1 Charley, 2 Frances, 3 Ivan, 4 Sale." Ivan, the dealiest storm to hit Florida since Floyd in 1999, is now reaching us here. Consequently, we receive plenty of rain. Meanwhile, Jeanne is over Hispañola with winds hovering around 70-75 mph. Another storm, as of yet unnamed, is forming in the Atlantic about halfway between Recife and Monrovia. Can anyone remember a season this bad?

Completed is my mowing for the week. Tonight, our Scoutmaster came over for a visit with his wife and adult daughter. Isaac took the opportunity to earn the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge. Tomorrow we are in Indianapolis all day for Mr. Keddie's installation. I guess many teens look forward to the week of their birthdays; however, probably few do like I and wait for another day of the week. But what could I look forward to more than seeing friends?

Hurricane Ivan, having come ashore at Gulf Shores, AL (that's where the picture was taken), now is about to park in the southern Appalachians. Just what they want — a stationary hurricane. No need to worry about rain for a while, but no need to worry about the crops, either. They'll all be new pond weed or floating in the Gulf of Mexico.

Salt Lake City nearly banned Santa Claus. Yes, laws should be serious, but even government officials should be able to have some fun without hurting anyone. By the way, check out the site where I got the funny little picture.
Last night at our troop meeting, we had elections. I kept my position as assistant senior patrol leader, which is equivalent to vice-president. Today, I've been busy mowing.
Dad left early this morning for Cincinnati to be with my grandmother. She was scheduled to have a biopsy done today; because of the location of the possible problem, she will be in heavy pain for the next several days; therefore, she will be staying in the hospital for a couple of days. Dad, however, will return tonight.

People sometimes have trouble checking into motels. But who ever heard of someone having trouble checking out?

In Iraq, rebels under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi exploded a large bomb outside a police station, killing many and wounding over 100. This must stop, but how? How does one stop suicide bombers who would like nothing better than death at our hands? The only way I can see is to create a culture, as best as we may, so that people don't want to destroy it. And rebuilding Iraq, or any other country, won't do it. Peace in the Middle East might require all the countries of the area to become free and prosperous. Pray for the peace given by its Prince!

Today is my birthday! As Mom said, seventeen years ago I was quite a pain. My parents are giving me (among other things) a book and new bookshelves for my room. However, the most important thing I will get this week will come on Friday. More on that later.

Well, we discovered the reason for the Lawnboy failure. Lawnboys use a fuel composed of normal gasoline and a special oil which we mix in. The oil acts as both fuel and lubricant; consequently, there is nowhere to add oil. Anyway, someone whom I will not name filled my tank yesterday with normal gasoline by accident. No wonder the engine won't work!

After hitting Jamaica, Hurricane Ivan has taken a new twist. Forecasters lifed the warnings for the Keys and are now predicting that the storm will land farther west. While a Panhandle landing is expected, emergency centers are on alert from Tampa to New Orleans. One must feel sorry for those who will receive the storm, but south Florida simply needs a break.
I thought when I bought a used Lawnboy that my mower problems were done for a while. After all, Lawnboys often run fine for many years. However, the mower died today as I was getting going on a lawn; as well, the pull cord is stuck, so I cannot restart the mower. Now we must wait to see if the man who sold it to us will abide by his spoken warranty.

Today's morning sermon looked at Numbers xvi.1-40, the incident with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. I have a question for any and all readers (except Dad): Three Reubenites are mentioned by name as having participated. What was the name of the third one?

Blogs

1. Katie: 10
2. Nathan: 6, 1 picture
3. Daniel: 15
4. Joseph: 5
5. Becca: 16, 11 pictures
6. Abby: 5
7. David: 5, 1 poll
8. Charity: 3
9. Anna: 6, 2 pictures, 2 illustrations, 1 poll
10. Brian: 3
11. Allen: 2, 1 picture
12. Rebekah: 0. Last post 3 September.
13. Jill: 0 Last post 22 August

Grace is exempt because my computer won't let me look at hers.

Remember the reason for this anniversary: Followers of an ungodly religion followed it faithfully. All faithful followers of Islam, or any other religion with similar tenets, are enemies of our nation as well as of our God. Death is their just reward.
In Fiji, six men have discovered a practical use for karate.
Football scores:

Marysville 24, Bellefontaine 7
Indian Lake 20, Ben Logan 8
Ridgemont 14, Riverdale 13
West Liberty-Salem 6, Riverside 0
Triad 29, Fairbanks 20

3-2

Dad sent this to me using a link from Instapundit.
Tonight are all the high school football games. Although none of you know any of these districts, I'm going to offer my opinions about who will win a few games. That's so tomorrow you can see how badly I mess up. Predicted winners are in bold.

Marysville (0-2) at Bellefontaine (0-2)
West Liberty-Salem (2-0) at Riverside (2-0)
Ben Logan (1-1) at Indian Lake (0-2)
Ridgemont (0-2) at Riverdale (?)
Fairbanks (?) at Triad (0-2)

Recently, opponents of the President have brought up his National Guard service record again. I've found two interesting stories on the subject. Story one destroys the idea that Bush failed to fulfill his duty — he worked several times harder than was necessary! Story two is more serious than simply a refutation of a myth - it deals with charges against Bush. CBS News obtained some memos purportedly typed on a typewriter in 1972 and 1973 by Bush's commander, Lt. Colonel Jerry Killain; these notes criticize Bush for neglecting duty. However, Killian's friends and family members publicly say that he would never have written something like this, and nor would have any other decent officer. Moreover, the documents feature touches impossible to type on typewriters, such as superscript "th" on "111th Squadron" and curved quotation marks. CBS, which we must remember is ALWAYS unbiassed, is staying with the story. This is a prime example of the liberal bias of the mainstream news media.

In Jamaica, residents are preparing for a direct hit from Hurricane Ivan. It's already the deadliest storm in the Caribbean in a decade. Preliminary forecasts have Ivan hitting southern Florida by the middle of next week.
All of you that know me decently well know that I don't care for most movies. Two nights ago I watched Tom Hanks' Castaway. Except for bad language at a couple of points, it is a great movie. This is the kind of story I love — despite sadness, difficulty is overcome and there is a happy ending.

Cloudy, wet weather means (probably) no mowing again today. Combine that with a nearly useless trip to Lima (one hour each way) and today is shaping up to be rather pointless. All we got on the trip was some duplicate merit badges and a Dilbert book — well, that's something to do, read the book.
Hurricane Ivan, now a Category 5 storm, has completely wrecked Grenada. According to the latest reports, at least nineteen people were killed by the storm. It destroyed or severely damaged at least 90% of the country's structures. Buildings destroyed include the prime minister's residence and the country's prison. Many prisoners decided to seek safety from the aftermath off by themselves. Next target: Jamaica.
In Indonesia, at least nine have died in a recent car bombing. Terrorists linked to al-Qaida attacked the Australian embassy in Jakarta.

Something went wrong here.
Last night I received six more merit badges: Archery, Cycling, Environmental Science, First Aid, Pioneering, and Rowing. Four of these I earned at summer camp, while the other two I got working one-on-one. The biggest part of Cycling, a fifty-mile ride, I completed on the bike trip.
Today has been downright dreary: heavy cloud cover all day with rain most of the time. Obviously no mowing has been done. Mom took Isaac and me to the local YMCA for a time of swimming for my Personal Fitness merit badge. After that, we ate and went shopping. Overall, I've gotten rather little done today. Tonight was supposed to be Prayer Meeting, like all Wednesday evenings; however, others are not feeling up to it, so we cancelled. When we normally have about ten to thirteen people, we don't need much to cancel.
Frances is over (except for its rain that we're getting) as a storm; however, Ivan is a different matter. Already up to Category 4, hurricane forecasters are already entertaining the possibility that it could hit Florida by the weekend. Just what they need!

I am now a Buckeye! Mom and Dad took me to the Bellefontaine OSU branch this morning to fill out the application. Now all I have to do is figure out which class I will be taking this quarter. It looks like I'll be taking only one class for each of the three class quarters this schoolyear.
Tonight is our troop's court of honor, at which recent awards will be handed out. I'll be receiving several merit badges, most of which I earned at summer camp. More tomorrow.

Zzzzz I need to get to bed here quickly. Combine a bad night of sleep with mowing a yard and beginning a twelve-week fitness program and you get a very tired me. My uncle and aunt, the older of Dad's two brothers and his wife, were here for much of the day. We visited Indian Lake and sat around the house. Apparently everyone else was as tired as I. Actually it was a rather exciting day; it's just that everything is more subdued to my tired mind.

Dad preached today on chapters xiii. and xiv. of Numbers, where the spies go out and return, and the Israelites decide not to go into Palestine. I've decided I really don't like the New King James Version. Maybe it is faithful to Hebrew and Greek, but it isn't faithful to English! Here is Numbers xiv.16 in NKJV and NIV.

'Because the LORD was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.' (NKJV)

'The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert.' (NIV)

There is no way that the NKJV is grammatically correct. There should be a comma after "oath" in the NIV, but at least the words are right. This is the way it is throughout the NKJV: so close to the idiom of the original that it is altogether unlike English. Yes, we should try to be as close as possible to the original; however, the point of translation is to render the original into that which the people speak. Otherwise we might as well demand that all learn the original tongues!
Ohio State beat the University of Cincinnati 27-6 yesterday in both schools' first football game of the season.

BEST BLOGS

These ratings cover the period 29 August-4 September. As before, if you want my notes on the blogs, email me for them.
1. Daniel 14 posts
2. Katie 7 posts
3. Abby 4 posts
4. Charity 3 posts
5. Brian 3 posts
6. Anna 5 posts
7. David 5 posts, 3 pictures
8. Rebekah 3 posts
9. Nathan 3 posts
10. Allen 1 post, 1 picture. Picture is rather graphic.
11. Joseph 2 posts
12. Grace 2 posts
13. Becca 0 posts. Last post 27 August.
14. Jill 0 posts. Last post 22 August.

Over 340 people have been slain in the school attack in North Ossetia. President Putin has now closed the borders as the military and police continue to search for the few terrorists who escaped. May they all be mercilessly slain!

Hurricane Frances is approaching Florida. Over 2,800,000 people have been evacuated from Florida. The main part of the storm should make landfall somewhat north of Miami tonight.
One couple from Belle Center weathered the storm in the Bahamas. A sunset wedding on a Caribbean beach must be nice, but if I were planning one in this situation, I'd postpone it or get married elsewhere.
We bought a "new" lawnmower today. My Scoutmaster and his wife were checking yardsales when they came upon one a bit east of here where many mowers were for sale. Apparently this guy gets old lawnmowers, and repairs and sells them. We got a great-condition used Lawnboy for a very good price.

Today has been very busy for me. I camped out overnight again, sleeping until almost 7:45. After that, I blogged, worked on Old English, got the mail, etc., until about noon. Isaac and I went with Matthew Bump to Bellefontaine to meet with a counsellor for the Personal Fitness merit badge at 1:00. The badge included various tests of physical ability, like maximum situps in one minute and stretching without bending the knees. According the the chart in the merit badge book, I placed in the fifth percentile in the stretching. Definitely something to improve!
Former President Clinton is in the hospital preparing for heart bypass surgery. He went through an unsuccessful angioplasty a day or two ago.
President Bush gave his acceptance speech yesterday night at the convention. Including many rounds of applause, it lasted shortly over an hour. This was the first real announcement of a second-term agenda. The foreign policy matters were very good. Unfortunately, his domestic agenda wasn't so good.

Russian commandos stormed the school where about thirty terrorists were holding over 1500 hostages in southern Russia. While twenty terrorists were killed, about a dozen escaped in civilian clothes. Hundreds are hospitalized. Because of the siege, the school had practically no food or water; as a result, the prisoners received no food, water, or bathroom access.

Camping last night was okay. Today will see more mowing and room work. In other words, yet another normal day except for one thing.
Dad is down in Cincinnati, going with his mother to a doctor's appointment. A couple of weeks ago, Grandmother had a body scan done that revealed the possibility of serious problems. Cancer has been ruled out, but we hear today the results of other tests.

Last night at the convention featured two major speeches: Cheney's nomination acceptance speech, and an anti-Kerry speech by Senator Zell Miller (D-GA). Here's some of what he had to say.

"This is the man who wants to be the commander in chief of our U.S. armed forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs? Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric."

Mitt Romney, the Republican governor of Massechusetts, said:

"I don't want presidential leadership that comes in 57 varieties. I want a strong President who stands his ground. I want George W. Bush … Bush is right and the 'Blame America First Crowd' is wrong."

How true these are!

In Russia, a school in the southeast of the country has been taken hostage on the first day of school. Chechen rebels hold hundreds of students, teachers, and parents. The seventeen attackers, who wear homicide-bomber belts, have vowed to explode the school should an attack come from the soldiers besieging the school. About fifty children have escaped, including this little girl.
Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke last night at the convention, as did Mrs. Bush.
With First Aid completed, I am now done with work on Life Scout (the last rank before Eagle) except for one thing. To get Life, one must serve for six months, perform six hours of community service, and earn eleven merit badges; I've gotten everything done except the six months — they won't be up until 27 November. So I get to wait around and just work on merit badges in the meantime.
Today will see plenty of mowing, along with more room work. In other words, an average day.