Six Years Later

Six years ago today we lost our baby boy, Buster. I felt the need to write something about it but wanted to make sure I didn't repeat myself, so I searched my blog history and found my original post that I wrote three days after Buster crossed over Rainbow Bridge. In that post, "For The Love of Buster," I said everything then that I was going to say today. I also found the next post I made about it, "Six Weeks Later," and re-read that one as well. After I read both of those posts I had the idea of what I was going to write today, so here it is.

I said in my original post that "all hurt heals," and it does - but only to a point. I don't hurt anywhere near as much as I used to, but the hole in my heart that was occupied by Buster is still there although it's nowhere near as big as it used to be. But it's still there, and I suspect that it always will be.

One of the reasons the hole isn't as big as it used to be is the Boston Terrier that we were waiting to pick up when I wrote "Six Weeks Later." Cage joined our family shortly after I wrote that post, and he's been a godsend. He's no Buster by any means - Buster was truly one of a kind - but he's quite the dog in his own right. He helped me get over my loss, helped me heal, and I love him just as much as I love Buster. He's also big, and I mean BIG. He's twice the size of a "normal" Boston Terrier and weighs 40 pounds. And you can bet that the first thing I taught him to do after housebreaking him was to go up and down stairs!

This is my "little man" Cage.

Harley got along with Cage right away, and I think he helped her heal as well. She really enjoyed having another dog to run around in the yard with, and she did that every day until she got older and couldn't run as well as she used to. She's 12 now, and is one of the loves of my life.

Here's our baby girl Harley standing next to Cage. Gives you a good idea of just how big Cage is since Harley is 22 pounds.

Three - or is it four? - years ago Gina showed me another picture of a dog she "just had to have," and just as with the picture of Cage I knew it right away. We had to have this dog, too, so Gina and a friend of hers drove all the way to Tennessee to pick him up from the rescue where he was and bring him home. He's a French Bulldog/Boston Terrier mix we named Mason, and he's a love bug first class! He loves nothing more than to sleep on my lap, and everywhere I go in the house he's right there. Cage is more than a little jealous about it, but when it comes to sleeping on my lap he has a shorter attention span than Mason, who could stay there all day and all night.

And this is Mason.

How can anyone resist that face?

While Cage played a key role in helping me heal after Buster's passing, I have to say that all three of our babies play a part in it. Healing is, after all, an ongoing process which in some cases never ends. I still kiss Buster's picture every night before I go to bed as I have done since he passed, and every time I leave the house I always ask Buster to watch over my babies while I'm gone. I feel him with me in the house all the time, and I dare say that I've seen him a couple of times as well - just a dark blur of motion out of the corner of my eye, or maybe a shadow in the next room that was there one moment and gone the next. Call it what you will, but he's here and I know it.

And I'm okay with that.

I love you, Buster, and I miss you.

Deo Vindice

IHC

My Wake-Up Call from God

Everyone goes through a period - or two - in their lives where they feel insignificant, like they don't matter to anyone, like no one cares about them outside of their family. I mean, we all know that the members of our family love us and always will, but sometimes you need to know that people outside of your family care about you. Sure, you can walk around with the "I don't care whether people like me or not, I like me and that's all that matters" attitude, but we both know that deep down inside you know that's a crock. Everyone cares whether people like them or not, and that's a fact. And I'm no different than anybody else in this respect.

Last fall, around the October/November timeframe, I was going through one of those periods for several reasons that I won't go into here. I will say that most of the feelings were the product of my own over-active imagination, but there were a couple of things that happened which helped the feelings of insignificancy along a bit. It was bad enough that I was losing sleep over it, and I don't lose sleep over many things. I slept through air raids during the Gulf War, for cryin' out loud, so for me to lay in bed at night wide awake and unable to sleep means that whatever it is is pretty damned serious.

And it wasn't getting any better. Seems that each day that went by just made me feel more insignificant, and there wasn't anything anyone around me could have done to make me feel better.

That's when God stepped in and gave me a wake-up call. And, in His usual manner, he did it in a big way.

At 3:00AM on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 while at my job on the midnight shift at Lowe's, I had a heart attack.

It started at around 8:00PM or so on Tuesday while I was at a meeting of my Masonic Lodge. I felt a small pain in my chest which kinda radiated out to my left arm, and to be honest my first thought was, "Man, please don't let this be what I think it is!" Meaning, please don't let it be a heart attack. I moved my left arm around a bit and the pain went away after a few moments, so in usual male fashion my thought was, 'The pain went away, so I'm fine!' After the meeting was over I changed clothes at the Lodge and then went to work.

About an hour after I got to work the pain came back, only a little stronger this time, and the more time went by the worse it got. By 3:00AM the pain was all the way down my arm into my hand, up the side of my neck into my jaw, and I couldn't catch my breath. So I went and found my boss and told him that I thought I was having a heart attack. While he was calling the ambulance I walked up to the front of the store to sit down in the Pro Services office to wait for them, and along the way I called my wife. Her first words to me were, "Are you coming home?" since I frequently would get off work early if I finished my work. I told her no, I wasn't coming home, I was going to the hospital because I was having a heart attack. She asked me if I was sure, and I said that I was. I also told her that I'd call her and let her know what hospital I was going to once the ambulance got there. By that time the pain was so bad I was having trouble breathing and talking, so after a few minutes I had one of my co-workers call her back and ask her what hospital she thought I should go to. Since she works for a local hospital I thought she'd know which one was best, and I went where she told me to go. She met me at the hospital about ten minutes after I got there, and I only hoped I didn't look as worried as she did.

Once there the doctors verified that yes, I was indeed having a heart attack, but that it wasn't the kind like you see in the Hollywood movies. You know, the kind where they guy grabs his chest, stumbles around for a moment, and then falls over dead. The docs call those "widowmakers" because most people didn't survive them. I was having the kind that was caused by a blocked artery - two of them, actually - which restricted the blood flow enough to cause the pain I was feeling. The doc also said that all they needed to do to fix me was put a stent into the artery that was 100% blocked and I'd be fine. There was a second one that was partially blocked but not enough for them to worry about it, so they didn't. Five hours later I was on the table getting the stent put in, and thanks to the drugs they gave me and the fact that I had been up for 30+ hours without sleep, I don't remember any of it. I was out like a light. The last thing I remember was the nurse prepping the site on my thigh for the catheter to go in, and the next thing I know they're waking me up to slide from the table to the gurney so they could take me to my room.

And that's when He started working his magic. I sent my wife to work around 7AM since she worked right across the street, telling her that there wasn't anything she could do anyway. Well, she started making phone calls, and about two hours after I got to my room the visits started. The brothers from my Masonic Lodge started showing up, as did their wives and girlfriends. I was in the hospital for two and a half days, and during that time period one of my Masonic brothers and a Past Master of our lodge, Worshipful Brother Jason Schulties, showed up twice - once on Wednesday and once on Thursday. The second time he showed up he brought me a gift - a copy of the page out of George Washington's Masonic Lodge which showed his payment for the degrees he received. When my wife came back Wednesday afternoon after she got off work, she brought a candy dish/stuffed animal/balloon thingy that one of the girls in her office who I had taught how to shoot sent me. During the afternoon on Thursday I received a visit from another Past Master, Worshipful Brother Matt Moskowitz, who took time out of his duty day with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (also known as SLED) to come visit me. My wife stayed with me as long as I would let her, and I ended up both nights having to kick her out so she could go home, take care of the dogs and get some sleep.

My phone also started going off with phone calls and text messages. I have to be honest and say that I was stunned when I got a text message from my first wife, Mary. We haven't talked nearly as much as I think either one of us would have liked since we divorced, so it really took me by surprise when I received a text message from her. I called her instead of texting, and we had a good talk. My daughter Kathy contacted me from her home in North Carolina as well, and my son called me from Florida where he's stationed with the Air Force. When he called me he asked me if I wanted him to come up to South Carolina. "I don't mean 'do you NEED me to come up there,'" he said, "I mean, do you WANT me to come up there? Because if you want me to come up there, then I'll be there in four hours." I told him no, I appreciated it, but I was OK and for him to stay with his family. I promised him that if I changed my mind I'd let him know.

Thursday night I was lying in the hospital bed in my room thinking about the events of the past 48 hours, and all I could think of was how many people had reached out to me in that short time period, and it brought tears to my eyes. I felt my feelings of insignificance vanish, and I knew what had happened. God had sent me a message, a "wake-up call" if you will, and I heard Him loud and clear. I was in trouble, He knew it, and He handled it in a way that only He could.

Since that day I've gone through every day knowing that I do matter, that I'm not insignificant, and that there are more people out there who care for me than I realize. And I thank God for that.

That, and for the wake-up call He gave me.

Deo Vindice

IHC

A Brief Re-Introduction

Like I said yesterday when I posted for the first time in two years (and I still can't believe it was that long!), I've picked up quite a few new friends and acquaintances thanks to Facebook and the Masonic Lodge. A great many of these folks came my way by benefit of either the Shrine or the Widows Sons, so there are those out there who are reading these words that really don't know much about me. And in addition to that, a few of my opinions and views have changed over the eight years this blog has been around, so I figured it was about time for a re-introduction of sorts. This will let those who don't know me very well to decide whether they want to continue knowing me or not, and will give those who have known me for a while an update on the things bouncing around in my head. Fair warning, though - if you're a liberal you're probably not gonna like a lot of what I have to say. That knife cuts both ways because I surely don't like 99% of what liberals have to say, but unlike the vast majority of liberals I have personally met I don't hold their views against them, and I understand that they have an absolute right to voice them. I will defend that right to the death because it's the right thing to do, and because it's in our Constitution whether I or anyone else agrees with it or not.

Having said that, here are the things about me - my beliefs, likes and opinions - that y'all need to know.

I love my country, period. I consider myself a patriot first and foremost; always have and always will. For all its faults and mistakes - both past and yet to come - I love my country and will defend her to the death. I served 23 years in the United States Air Force because of this, and I'm damned proud of both my country and my service. Our nation is not perfect - no nation is - but it's ours to enjoy and defend, and I have nothing but utter disdain for anyone who bad-mouths the nation which gives them the freedom to voice their opinions without retribution from the government. That's ingratitude of the highest order, and you'd best not do that around me because the encounter won't be a nice one.

I disagree with the SCOTUS decision that burning an American flag is "free speech" that is protected by the First Amendment. Burning a flag is a physical action, not a spoken word, and anyone with an ounce of common sense should realize this. Besides, that ain't what the Amendment says. If you try burning an American flag anywhere near me, you're gonna get an ass-whuppin'. End of story.

If I have to take a drug test in order to get a job so I can pay the taxes that fund welfare, then welfare recipients should damn well have to take a drug test to receive the benefits of MY labor. If you do drugs you don't get the bennies, end of story. And if you think that's racist then you're either a liberal or an idiot.

I despise liberalism. Not liberals, mind you, but liberalism. I don't despise anyone for their political or religious opinions and views; I despise the actions they take because of them. IMHO liberalism is the biggest threat facing our nation, bigger than radical Islam and terrorism, and if there's one thing that will bring this great nation down it's liberalism. Liberalism is a disease that can only be cured by education, but unfortunately those who suffer from this disease don't realize that it's a disease and refuse to believe anything they hear or read except what is put out to them by other liberal sources such as CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and those liberal bigots on "The View."

I believe that prisons should be for incarceration as punishment and not for rehabilitation. Prison should be a place so terrible that you would do anything, including going straight, to keep from going back. I don't believe that the prison staff and guards should abuse the prisoners; rather, they should just enforce the rules of the prison and let the incarceration itself serve as the punishment. I believe in chain gangs as well. Sitting on your ass in a cell, watching TV and being able to relax in an air conditioned building while enjoying three meals a day and getting paid for the menial labor that you do is not my idea of punishment. Prisons are for punishment, not rehabilitation.

I don't support the death penalty. This is a view of mine which has recently changed. Do I believe that some people need to die for the crimes they've committed? Yes. However, as long as there is the slimmest of chance that an innocent person could be executed, I can't in good faith support the death penalty. Our justice system is not perfect, and regardless of how "iron clad" the evidence may be there is always - ALWAYS - the chance that an innocent man will be convicted. And once the poor guy has been executed, that's it - you don't get a "do-over" with the death penalty, so as long as that slimmest chance exists I can't support the death penalty. And no, you can't make any rules for an exception to this because those rules may start out stringent at first but I can guarantee you that the liberal bleeding hearts out there will, over time, make more and more exceptions until you get a system that is never used at all. So why have it in the first place? No, the death penalty is the type of thing where you either use it all the time or not at all. I vote for not at all.

I'm pro-life, another view of mine which has changed. Everyone deserves a chance at life, even if the fetus is diagnosed with some kind of disorder or deformity. Everyone deserves a chance at life.

And life begins at conception. Period.

Homosexuality is wrong in every way, shape or form. It's wrong physically, it's wrong mentally, it's wrong spiritually; however, these are my opinions and nothing more. I absolutely don't care how you live your life or who you jump in bed with; that's your business and not mine. If you are homosexual I will not treat you any differently than I treat anyone else, and the people I know who are homosexual will verify this. What you do in your personal life is none of my business, and I'm fine with that. But the moment you try and force your lifestyle and/or sexual orientation down my throat and tell me that I have to accept it is the moment that you and I are gonna have a problem. I'm just as free to live my life the way I choose as you are, and I require the same from you. Follow that simple rule and we're gonna get along fine; hell, I'll even take you out and buy you a beer. Ignore that rule and we're headed for trouble. Your choice, not mine. Choose wisely.

I refuse to use the word "gay" to describe a homosexual. Why do you have to come up with a cheerful, happy term to define your sexuality if you're so proud of it? "Gay" means you're happy, and if you're happy being a homosexual then you're a happy homosexual, not "gay."

There are two genders, male and female. End of story. Anything else is nothing more than liberal bullshit.

I am a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment, and I believe in the literal definition of the Amendment. That means it is my belief that every single law concerning ownership of firearms is unconstitutional. "Shall not be infringed" means just that.

I believe in the open carrying of firearms, also known as "Constitutional carry." I also believe in training for those who choose to do so - not mandatory training, mind you (see above paragraph), but voluntary training. If you're going to be responsible enough to open carry then you need to be responsible enough to get trained.

I voted for Donald Trump and am damn proud of it. IMHO he's the best President to sit in the White House since Ronald Reagan, and I fully support everything he's done so far.

And the worst President to sit in the White House in the history of our nation is Barack NObama, hands down. That honor used to go to Jimmy Carter, but not anymore.

I don't use hyphenated terms to describe a person. You won't hear me describe an American of African descent as an "African-American;" you also won't hear me describe an American of Italian descent as an "Italian-American," or a person of Scottish descent as a "Scottish-American." The reason for this is simple: that term puts something other than their being an American first, and there's nothing that is more important than being an American. I'm an American first and foremost, and that's that. Everything else is secondary.

I believe the IRS should be disbanded and all Federal taxation of our wages should stop immediately with the exception of Social Security. And I believe that all funds for Social Security that have been stolen by the Federal government should be replaced immediately, and that all Social Security funds should once again be classified as "untouchable" for anything except paying them out to retirees as the program was first intended before the Democrats got their chance to change things.

Medical care is not a "right." You have no "right" to the work of others without paying them for it, and if you demand free medical care because it's your "right" then you're demanding that a doctor who spent at least 8 years of his/her life perfecting their craft treat you for free. And that ain't how the system works. You want free medical care, move your ass to Canada - but be prepared to pay for it with higher taxes because nothing in life is free.

I support our police. Without them our nation would be in a state of anarchy and we'd all be less safe.

I support our military for obvious reasons. Every single man or woman who wears the uniform of our nation's armed forces have written a check payable to the People of the United States for the amount up to and including their life, and just because they volunteered doesn't make their action any less trivial or unimportant. If you're one of those "social justice warriors" or liberals who like to sit back and enjoy the freedoms that our military protects on our behalf and use your freedom of speech to bad-mouth and/or insult them, then you'd be well advised not to do it within earshot of me. The end result won't be pretty, but I can guarantee you that it'll be an experience you won't forget.

I'm proud of my Southern roots and my Confederate ancestors, and I believe that the South was right. Not about slavery, mind you, but about the idea of secession and the federal government infringing on the rights of individual states to govern themselves. That was the intent of the Founding Fathers, and that type of government died on April 9, 1865.

I believe in spirituality. I don't believe in organized religion because people will always f*ck it up.

I believe in a Supreme Being. I also believe in His son, Jesus Christ.

I believe in the Masonic Lodge, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the Widows Sons, and all of my brothers in those honorable organizations. I am honored and proud to have been accepted by all of them.

I believe every day on this big blue ball we call home is a gift from God, and we have a responsibility to make the best of it.

Well, that's about it for now. These are the "big ones" that I'll most likely find myself writing about or have written about in the past, but it's by no means a complete list. And now, having read this, you're going to do one of two things: you're either going to continue your association with me or you won't. If you choose to continue your association with me, then I thank you for that. I promise that I will do my best to always give you the respect you deserve as a human being, and should I stray or fail in this please let me know and I'll correct it.

If you choose to unfriend me or discontinue our relationship, then that's fine. Sorry it turned out that way, but keep in mind that it's YOUR decision and not mine. It's probably better this way anyhow because we'd probably not get along since you can't accept differing views of other folks without getting your panties in a knot.

Oh, yeah, one last thing about me - I call 'em as I see 'em and I don't mince words.

Right now I hear a glass of iced tea calling me.

Y'all be safe and enjoy the day God gave you.

Deo Vindice

IHC

Liberal Lunacy #1: The Gun Control Myth

Yeah, it's been a while - almost two years, to be exact. So I guess I should start off with a short explanation as to why I stopped writing for this long and why I decided to pick it up again.

I stopped writing for two reasons: I got extremely busy in my personal life and was having a hard time finding the time to devote to it, and I got extremely discouraged with the direction our country was headed under the extreme lack of leadership of our FORMER President, NObama. I just had too many negative thoughts going through my head and couldn't find anything positive to write about. That, coupled with the lack of time, caused me to take an extended break.

Well, kiddies, break time is over. We have a real leader in the White House now - a man with balls instead of a pen and a phone - and I have both the time and the desire to write again. My apologies to my fans for my prolonged absence. I can't promise it won't happen again, but at least I can try.

So let's go, shall we?

I figured I'd start off with a kind of a series I've titled "Liberal Lunacy." You can pretty much guess what I'm gonna be talking about just from the title, and the premier topic today is just what the title says - the gun control myth.

Let's start off with some basic facts that the liberal left chooses to ignore and that every American needs to at least have a knowledge of.

Basic Fact #1: Gun Control Laws Don't Work. They never have, and they never will for one simple reason: criminals don't obey the law. The only people who will obey the law are the ones you don't have to worry about, the ones who won't go around robbing and shooting and killing. You know, the people we need to be able to defend ourselves from - which leads me right into the next fact.

Basic Fact #2: Disarming law abiding citizens will neither make nor keep them safe. This is lunacy and/or sheer stupidity at its very best. Only a fool or a liberal would think that stripping law abiding citizens of the ability to defend themselves would make them safe. That's like being confronted by a hungry lion and throwing your rifle away in the hope that he won't attack you. Do this and you're gonna get eaten, end of story. This is why "Gun Free Zones" don't work. I prefer to call them "Target Rich Environments" because that's exactly what they are. 99% of the mass shootings that have taken place in this country in the past 20 years have taken place in so-called "Gun Free Zones," so if you need evidence that gun control and gun free zones don't work, you need look no further than that.

Basic Fact #3: Guns aren't the problem. PEOPLE are the problem. Guns have been around since before the founding of this country, and they've been an integral part of American life every single day that this country has existed. If it weren't for guns this nation wouldn't have expanded and grown the way it has; the early settlers would have starved to death and the Colonists wouldn't have been able to break free from the oppressive British rule under which they suffered. Prior to the passing of the National Firearms Act of 1934 it was perfectly legal for every American citizen to purchase, own and use a fully automatic machine gun - you could actually purchase a fully automatic Thompson machine gun from the Sears catalogue for under a hundred bucks. Yet with all these fully automatic machine guns floating around, there were no mass shootings. There were no school shootings, there were no shootings at concerts, there were no mass shootings at all. So what changed? The answer is simple: people changed. Values dropped. Morals stopped being taught at home. Parents stopped teaching their kids the value and sanctity of human life. They stopped teaching respect for one another. The liberals made sure that God was taken out of the classrooms, and the end result is that schools are the #1 location for mass shootings. If that isn't Karma come to visit then I don't know what is.

Basic Fact #4: The NRA is 100% blameless. As much as the liberal loonies would like for you to believe this and as much as they just looooove to use this as their rally cry, the National Rifle Association is 100% blameless in any shooting of any type. The one and only person who shoulders 100% of the blame is the lunatic who pulls the trigger. To blame a third party for the actions of another is wrong in every possible way, and is so wrong that it literally defies description. The NRA is the founder and sponsor of the nation's biggest, most comprehensive and most effective gun safety program, yet you never hear about this from the liberal news media.

Basic Fact #5: We have a mental health problem disguised as a "gun violence" problem. The simple fact is this: anyone who picks up a weapon of any kind and goes on a mass murder spree is crazy. Period. They have a serious mental disorder, and if you need proof of this then just take a look at the profiles of the nutjobs who have committed the most recent mass shootings. Then tell me those folks weren't a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

Basic Fact #6: Banning guns won't work. Banning guns will work about as well as banning meth or LSD or opium or cocaine or...well, you get the idea. Yet the liberals continually choose to ignore this. And if you want to break this point down to being weapon-specific, then take a look at what's going on in England right now, the country that the liberal left continually chooses to espouse as their shining example of why gun control really works. It's illegal in England for a private citizen to own a firearm, so now they have a problem not with mass shootings but with mass knife attacks. You heard me right - mass knife attacks, which proves that if a crazy person wants to kill people he or she will find a way. So what has England's response been? They're calling for a ban on knives, I kid you not. Which only serves to reinforce the Conservative right's stand that if you ban guns, knives will be next. Of course, the liberals don't want you to know this.

Actually, the liberals don't want you to know ANY of this. They want you to stop thinking for yourself, stop doing research and just believe what they tell you without hesitation. They know that if you think for yourself and educate yourself on the issues facing our nation you will discover two things: one, gun control is a myth that doesn't work, and two, it's not about safety, it's about control. The liberals want to be in total control and run things their way, and they know that the only way this can happen is if people stop thinking for themselves and start toeing the liberal left's line.

And I, for one, refuse to do that.

One last thing I should mention. I intentionally didn't list the 2nd Amendment as a basic fact because I feel the Amendment is in another category - namely, Constitutional rights. The wording and meaning of the Amendment is a topic that is constantly being debated because the liberals know that if you understand it the way it was written all of their arguments are invalid; you could also devote an entire blog entry to just that topic alone, and having already done that once I chose not to do it again. Not yet, anyway.

And there you have it, friends and neighbors. For those of you who have joined my Facebook friends list since I stopped writing, this will give you a little insight as to who I truly am and how I feel on some things. For some of you this may come as a shock, but for most it won't. I'll tell you right now if you're a liberal you're not gonna like 99% of what I post, so consider yourselves warned. And if this causes you to drop off of my friends list, so be it. Your loss, not mine.

See you next time.

Deo Vindice.