Announcing our new pastor

Today in church it was announced that Steve Turnbull of Community of Grace Lutheran Church, White Bear Lake, Minnesota, will be the new pastor at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church.  I think this photo is about 6 years old—found it on Facebook.

Fillies in the Derby

Maybe Bruce Jenner is confused (did you read he's getting married for the fourth time--a woman younger than his daughters), but horsemen seem to know there's a difference between the boys and girls.  It took me awhile, but I finally found a list of fillies in the Kentucky Derby.  Fillies mature a little later than colts, so the Derby really isn't good for them.

Fillies in the Derby 1875  Ascension    10th; Gold Mine    15th
1876  Lizzie Stone     6th; Marie Michon    7th
1877  Early Light     8th
1879  Ada Glenn     7th
  Wissahickon     9th
1883  Pike’s Pride     6th
1906  Lady Navarre   2nd
1911  Round the World    6th
1912  Flamma    3rd
1913  Gowell    3rd
1914  Bronzewing    3rd; Watermelon     7th
1915  REGRET    1st
1918  Viva America    3rd
1919  Regalo     9th
1920  Cleopatra    15th
1921  Prudery    3rd&; Careful     5th
1922  Startle      8th
1929  Ben Machree    18th
1930  Alcibiades    10th
1932  Oscillation    13th
1934  Mata Hari     4th; Bazaar; 9th
1935  Nellie Flag     4th
1936  Gold Seeker     9th
1945  Misweet    12th
1959  Silver Spoon     5th
1980  GENUINE RISK   1st
1982  Cupecoy’s Joy   10th
1984  Life’s Magic     8th, Althea     19th
1988  WINNING COLORS   1st
1995  Serena’s Song   16th
1999  Excellent Meeting    5th; Three Ring    19th
2008  Eight Belles    2nd
2010  Devil May Care   10th

The 2018 Derby list—Forbes

1) Firenze Fire
Owner: Mr. Amore Stable
Trainer: Jason Servis
Jockey: Paco Lopez
Opening odds: 50-1
Saturday morning odds: 66-1
Post position winners (where they opening and listed in the program): 8
Last winner: Ferdinand (1986)
2) Free Drop Billy
Owner: Albaugh Family Stables LLC
Trainer: Dale Romans
Jockey: Robby Albarado
Opening odds: 30-1
Saturday morning odds: 35-1
Post position winners: 7
Last winner: Affirmed (1978)
3) Promises Fulfilled
Owner: Robert J. Baron
Trainer: Dale Romans
Jockey: Corey Lanerie
Opening odds: 30-1
Saturday morning odds: 50-1
Post position winners: 5
Last winner: Real Quiet (1998)
4) Flameaway
Owner: John C. Oxley
Trainer: Mark Casse
Jockey: José Lezcano
Opening odds: 30-1
Saturday morning odds: 45-1
Post position winners: 5
Last winner: Super Saver (2010)
5) Audible
Owner: China Horse Club International, Head of Plains Partners LLC, Starlight Racing, WinStar Farm
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Javier Castellano
Opening odds: 8-1
Saturday morning odds: 13/2
Post position winners: 10
Last winner: Always Dreaming (2017)
6) Good Magic
Owner: E Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Stonestreet Stables LLC
Trainer: Chad Brown
Jockey: José Ortiz
Opening odds: 12-1
Saturday morning odds: 8-1
Post position winners: 2
Last winner: Sea Hero (1993)
7) Justify
Owner: China Horse Club International, Head of Plains Partners LLC, Starlight Racing, WinStar Farm
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Mike Smith
Opening odds: 3-1
Saturday morning odds: 7/2
Post position winners: 6
Last winner: Street Sense (2007)
8) Lone Sailor
Owner: G M B Racing
Trainer: Tom Amoss
Jockey: James Graham
Opening odds: 50-1
Saturday morning odds: 50-1
Post position winners: 8
Last winner: Mine That Bird (2009)
9) Hofburg
Owner: Juddmonte Farms Inc.
Trainer: Bill Mott
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Opening odds: 20-1
Saturday morning odds: 15-1
Post position winners: 4
Last winner: Riva Ridge (1972)
10) My Boy Jack
Owner: Don’t Tell My Wife Stables, Monomoy Stables LLC
Trainer: Keith Desormeaux
Jockey: Kent Desormeaux
Opening odds: 30-1
Saturday morning odds: 18-1
Post position winners: 9
Last winner: Giacomo (2005)
11) Bolt d’Oro
Owner: Ruis Racing LLC
Owner: Ruis Racing LLC
Trainer: Mick Ruis
Jockey: Victor Espinoza
Opening odds: 8-1
Saturday morning odds: 17/2
Post position winners: 2
Last winner: Winning Colors (1988)
12) Enticed
Owner: Godolphin LLC
Trainer: Kiaran McLaughlin
Jockey: Junior Alvarado
Opening odds: 30-1
Saturday morning odds: 25-1
Post position winners: 3
Last winner: Canonero II (1971)
13) Bravazo
Owner: Calumet Farm
Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas
Jockey: Luis Contreras
Opening odds: 50-1
Saturday morning odds: 60-1
Post position winners: 5
Last winner: Nyquist (2016)
14) Mendelssohn
Owner: Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith
Trainer: Aidan O’Brien
Jockey: Ryan Moore
Opening odds: 5-1
Saturday morning odds: 7/2
Post position winners: 2
Last winner: Carry Back (1961)
15) Instilled Regard
Owner: Oxo Equine LLC
Trainer: Jerry Hollendorfer
Jockey: Drayden Van Dyke
Opening odds: 50-1
Saturday morning odds: 60-1
Post position winners: 3
Last winner: Fusaichi Pegasus (2000)
16) Magnum Moon
Owner: Lawana L. and Robert E. Low
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Luis Saez
Opening odds: 6-1
Saturday morning odds: 15/2
Post position winners: 5
Last winner: Orb (2013)
17) Solomini
Owner: Zayat Stables LLC
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Flavien Prat
Opening odds: 30-1
Saturday morning odds: 22-1
Post position winners: None
18) Vino Rosso
Owner: Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: John Velazquez
Opening odds: 12-1
Saturday morning odds: 12-1
Post position winners: 2
Last winner: American Pharoah (2015)
19) Noble Indy
Owner: WinStar Farm LLC and Repole Stable
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Florent Geroux
Opening odds: 30-1
Saturday morning odds: 30-1
Post position winners: 1
Last winner: I'll Have Another (2012)
20) Combatant
Owner: Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Willis Horton Racing LLC
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Jockey: Ricardo Santana Jr.
Opening odds: 50-1
Saturday morning odds: 66-1
Post position winners: 1
Last winner: Big Brown (2008)

Hartstone Pottery of Zanesville, Ohio

http://www.americanmadeeverything.com/2012/03/27/hartstone-pottery/

Today I picked up a pretty bowl made by Hartstone at the Volunteers of America store for $1.91.  It’s small and decorated with vegetables, so I thought it might be fun to own.  I didn’t know anything about the company, but was interested to find it is made near by.

“Hartstone was first produced in 1976 in Chatham, New Jersey. Pat and Sharon Hart’s goal was to create beautiful, handcrafted quality articles for the preparation and presentation of food. Hartstone’s first product was the stoneware cookie mold.

In 1983 Mr. Hart moved his manufacturing facility to Zanesville, Ohio because of its known pottery heritage and the availability of a facility to expand his growing business. In 1983, Hartstone began producing hand-decorated gift and tableware.

Hartstone Pottery now operates in a building that was once operated by the JB Owens Pottery Company, built in 1902. This beautiful old post-and-beam building, fleeced in brick, shows the scars of many alterations, including that of fire.”  http://www.americanmadeeverything.com/2012/03/27/hartstone-pottery/

A woman makes it to the top

Cecile Richards is retiring from Planned Parenthood. Her legacy is 3.5 million lives ended. That probably makes her the most powerful woman in the crime archives of the world.

The black unemployment rate

The national unemployment rate for blacks in April 2018 was 6.6%, the lowest it has been since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) started compiling such data in 1972, some 46 years ago. I'm not one who says Obama deserves no credit--the unemployment rate was normalizing the last year of his presidency. But I do say if he had been willing to cut regulations and taxes, the recession would have really been over, and instead of the artificial date of June 2009, it could have been the actual date. The "great recession" could have been as brief as the one President Bush inherited. But if he'd done that, if he'd done something to benefit employers and tax payers instead of the federal government, he would have been drummed out of his party, and there would have been no second term.

Also both the income and the employment rate isn’t the same for all blacks. Immigrant Africans and island blacks usually have incomes higher than American blacks.   Jamaican Americans have an income of almost a third higher than that of native born American blacks.  Even Haitian Americans have a higher income than American born blacks.

Balaam’s ass, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, and Donald Trump

In my morning meditation time I’m reading through Kelly Kullberg’s book, A Faith and Culture Devotional for the third time.  Today’s selection is the one I find the most fascinating of all the marvelous stories in the book—“Ziegenbalg: India’s First Missionary.”

Here’s how the story of this incredible man of God begins: “When King Friedrich IV of Denmark suffered the death of his favorite mistress in 1704, he granted a longstanding petition from both his wife and his mother.  As reformist Lutheran Pietists, they wanted missionaries sent to his trading ports.  So began the journey to India of the first ever Protestant missionary, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, age 23, from Halle in Germany.” This man is so honored by Indians for the changes he brought, he was honored in 2006 by the whole country. Think about it.  Death of a mistress of a king—request from his wife—sends a German pietist to India! It’s hard to get your mind around that.

http://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/w-x-y-z/ziegenbalg-bartholomaus-1682-1719/

Balaam’s ass is a story from the Old Testament and mentioned in the New Testament about a false prophet name Balaam who was sent by Balak of the Moabites to cast evil on the Hebrews.  On the way, his donkey sees something—an angel--and refuses to move forward.  Balaam beat the animal, but the Lord spoke to Balaam through the ass. The donkey saw the angel, but Balaam didn’t.

https://www.thoughtco.com/balaam-and-the-donkey-bible-story-700077

So what’s  Christian to do when she sees and hears about Donald Trump’s strange/immoral behavior, yet he continues to do good for the country—like border protection, possible release of Americans from North Korea, and relief from burdensome taxes and regulations that hurt the middle class?  Is God speaking in ways we don’t expect?

Life in 1957

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6bHs8Vm3EQ&app=desktop
Part of a PBS series Making sense of the Sixties. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhV5CJsoQdg&list=PLl5jpZP-bgnm062FH0VVktr8zOveXLehI
The 1950s and after Sputnik   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlZRHBGlBJY
Rules in the 1950s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrYX9j3Tqzw

May 3 National Day of Prayer

Today we’ll not be attending any particular service, but will be at a funeral for a faithful servant of God who died at 94, so I know we’ll be bathed in prayer.  Here’s what I wrote six years ago.

“Prayer Breakfast at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church this morning: Bishop John Bradosky of the North American Lutheran Church hit it out of the ball park! A fantastic review of religion in America--the role of the Great Awakening, the beliefs of the founders, how the United States form of government is different than all others, that 94% of the founding documents were based on the Bible, that clergy and pastors had a huge role throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, including the founding of such important universities as Harvard and Columbia, that "separation of church and state" was intended to protect the church from being harassed by the state, not the other way around by keeping the church out of the public square, and that the change needs to begin not in the White House, or the state house, or the court house, but in the house of God! Wow.”

Why we have a Russian mess—President Obama

“Russia doesn't make anything. Immigrants aren't rushing to Moscow in search of opportunity. The life expectancy of the Russian male is around 60 years old. The population is shrinking. And so we have to respond with resolve in what are effectively regional challenges that Russia presents.” President Barack Obama, August 2014.

He was wrong on all three; what else didn’t he know about Russia? Combine this with what he said in 2012 to Romney, and what he whispered to the Russian president Medvedev off mic, and you can see what a loser we elected. In his defense, he probably didn’t know anything about Russia and was repeating what his advisors had told him.

https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/08/barack-obama-talks-economist

Worse than we thought

"The wreckage of Barack Obama’s foreign policy is coming into focus. Syria: the “red line” fiasco, with hundreds of thousands killed. North Korea: a do-nothing policy that brought America’s West Coast perilously close to coming under nuclear threat. Iran: a deal that would have been foolish even if the mullahs hadn’t cheated, $100 billion and sanctions relief now, in exchange for promises that Iran could walk away from at will. We now know that the deal was even worse than that." John Hinderacker, Powerline

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/04/the-obama-disaster-and-the-tweet-of-the-day.php?

If the elections were this week

The attention span of voters is short--like 24-48 hours, but today these four things help the Republicans.

1) Michelle Wolf, sickening comedienne who revolted even Democrat journalists at the White House Correspondents Dinner;

2) the two Koreas meeting and shaking hands when Democrats had predicted WWIII;

3) busloads of central Americans demanding entrance at our borders, well fed and financed by the left;

4) realization by workers that taxes really are lower and Democrats lied again.

Right to life isn’t just about abortion

“Jacob Koehler, a senior from Springfield, Ohio, won the Ohio Right to Life Oratory Contest. The competition, which is held every spring in central Ohio, challenges high school juniors and seniors to write and present an original speech on the many issues pertaining to the right to life: abortion, infanticide, euthanasia or stem cell research. In his speech, Jacob focused on the life of his grandmother, who is currently struggling with Alzheimer's. He passionately spoke of how her life is still valuable, no matter how dependent on his family she might become.

"Jacob's speech was passionate, well-articulated, and really tugged at the heartstrings of the audience," said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. "It is crucial that the next generation is able to powerfully and persuasively communicate the pro-life cause. Ohio Right to Life is excited to send Jacob to the National Right to Life Contest where we are sure he will represent pro-life Ohio very well." “

https://www.ohiolife.org/jacob_koehler_wins_the_ohio_right_to_life_oratory_contest

Take care of your teeth

When I was a young child, health was sometimes combined with art at our school (we had no art classes in either Forreston or Mt. Morris) and we'd color special pages with messages--like "Take care of your teeth and they will take care of you." And it's true. Early and consistent care of teeth will greatly benefit you. Here's some good news. 75% of baby boomers will enter long-term care with most of their natural teeth. Very different from my parents or grandparents generation. My in-laws were in their 40s when I met them, and both had dentures. All sorts of health problems are linked to oral conditions. I still have all my teeth—even my wisdom teeth, but I had a close call with gingivitis in my 30s.  That can lead to periodontal disease which causes loss of connective tissue and bone.  It’s the leading cause of tooth loss.  So I needed surgery to correct it.  You don’t ever want that—very painful.  "The effects of oral health on systemic health," by Shawn F. Kane.  You'll be able to understand most of this.  https://www.agd.org/docs/default-source/self-instruction-(gendent)/gendent_nd17_aafp_kane.pdf

Making cocoa with honey

Hot Cocoa Recipe With Honey

Ingredients:

1-2 TBS (2 for a super chocolaty drink!) cacao powder

2 cups milk (we prefer using organic whole milk for a creamier hot cocoa drink)

3 TBS honey

pinch of salt

Optional additions:

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Directions:

Add all the ingredients into a saucepan in the order listed. Include any of the optional additions that you choose. Heat on medium heat and slowly whisk together as the milk warms. Make sure the milk doesn’t boil since you don’t want to scald it! Boiling the hot cocoa would also destroy some of the health benefits of using raw honey. Once the hot cocoa is hot and mixed well, remove from heat, pour into mugs and enjoy!

This is the recipe from my previous blog, but this is what I made.  I mixed 2 TBSP of cacao with 2TBSP of honey (purchased from a friend who has hives), mixed with 1 1/2 cups of hot decaf plus some whole milk and a smidgen of vanilla.  Tastes fine.

You can see my blogs on the benefits of chocolate.

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/dark-chocolate-is-good-for-us.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/02/habitual-chocolate-users-perform-better.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/03/but-make-it-dark-chocolate.html

A month with no processed food

Can we do it? For the month of May we are giving up processed foods (my definition). So today we are finishing up the donuts and potato chips just to get a clean start. We're not milking cows or harvesting wheat here in the 'burbs, so some processing is allowed.

I couldn't figure out how to make our hot cocoa, but found a recipe for using honey. http://montanahomesteader.com/hot-cocoa-recipe-honey/ Of course, cacao is highly processed, but it's also very bitter along with having lots of health benefits, so you need a sweetener. I just might try this.

Supper tonight: ham, steamed fresh baby spinach, grilled bell peppers with onions and mushrooms, fresh fruit on skewers with some cheese.

We live in crazy times

Louie Gohmert on Robert Mueller

https://www.scribd.com/document/377409983/Gohmert-Mueller-UNMASKED#

“I was one of the few who were NOT surprised when Mueller started selecting his assistants in the Special Counsel’s office who had reputations for being bullies, for indicting people who were not guilty of the charges, for forcing people toward bankruptcy by running up their attorney’s fees (while the bullies in the Special Counsel’s office enjoy an apparently endless government budget), or by threatening innocent family members with prosecution so the Special Counsel’s victim would agree to pleading guilty to anything to prevent the Kafka-esque prosecutors from doing more harm to their families.”

On Mueller’s Five Year Up or Out Policy. . . which got rid of a lot of experienced FBI agents

“If an FBI Director has inappropriate personal vengeance in mind or holds an inappropriate prejudice such as those that infamously motivated Director J. Edgar Hoover, then the older, wiser, experienced agents were not around with the confidence to question or guide the Director away from potential misjudgment. I also cannot help but wonder if Mueller had not run off the more experienced agents, would they have been able to advise against and stop the kind of abuses and corruption being unearthed right now that occurred during the Obama administration.

Rather than admit that his Five Year Up or Out Policy was a mistake, Mueller eventually changed the policy to a Seven Year Up or Out Program.”

A movie for the #metoo movement

The Bill Cosby trial and #metoo movement brings to mind a great movie to watch this week-end, just as a refresher in guilt and complicity almost 60 years old. The Apartment (1960).

Jack Lemmon (Baxter) hands over his apartment key willingly to lechers in the firm so he can curry favor and advance in the company. Shirley MacLaine (Miss Kubelik) is the boss's mistress hoping to move up from elevator operator to being Mrs. Sheldrake, for whom Baxter provides the apartment for servicing Miss Kubelik. Fred MacMurray (Sheldrake) has no intention of leaving his wife and 2 kids as he makes the moves on at least 4-5 female employees out of 32,000 including his secretary Edie Adams (Miss Olsen) who after she's fired tells the real Mrs. Sheldrake what's happening at work. The only character even slightly innocent is Baxter's neighbor, Jack Kruschen, (Dr. Dreyfuss) and even he is ethically challenged for covering up Miss Kubelik's attempted suicide in the apartment.

Did none of these #metoo women watch movies? It got five Academy Awards.

Ethnicity vs. nationality

Sunday we celebrated with the Oromo Evangelical Church, which is part of our Lutheran synod. They had recently occupied a church building near Baltimore, Ohio with the financial help of our congregation and other Lutheran churches in central Ohio.  The Oromos are from Ethiopia. I saw many different skin tones and hair styles (and lovely Ethiopian fashions). In this YouTube video the speaker says her parents and grandparents are Ethiopian. But when she referred to herself as African in her video, she got push back from people who said she was too light. Her brother Noah is very dark. So she did a genetics test through National Geographic. 56% east African, about 28% Arabian, some Jewish diaspora (possibly from slavery days in Egypt), some Asia Minor and going way back--Kenya. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a7Z8Q43cfw

If you keep looking through the sequence, there are several people sharing Ethiopian genetics tests on YouTube. I saw one from UK, and one from Canada.  They too said people had told them they weren’t African because they were too light.