The ornery black horse that belongs to my wife’s friend Becky that I have written about several times died last night. He died when lightning struck the stable he was in.
The veterinarian said his death was immediate and he never suffered.
Also killed was a Clydesdale Becky had recently bought.
For those who have never heard of Becky’s black horse or may not have heard he stories about this horse I will tell a couple of stories.
He was always a colorful character and his spirit made for interesting tales.
I first learned about him when my wife told me about her and Becky horseback riding and the black horse, the one Becky rode, would try to bite them. My wife finally got the horse’s respect one day when it tried to crowd her in the stable area, and she punched him in the nose. After that the horse followed her like a puppy. She just had to show him who the alpha was – her.
The horse also had a bit of kleptomania as it once stole a pair of Becky’s panties – red panties – out of the laundry basket and ran off with them. The horse came back later with the panties on his head with his eye looking out through one leg hole with an ear sticking out of the other.
Then there was the cat that persisted jumping on the horse’s back until Becky decided to scare the cat away by shooting at it only to end up plugging the cat ending at least one of the feline’s nine lives. She said she did not mean to hit the cat.
And this was the same horse a neighborhood kid was shooting with a pellet gun when law enforcement agents found out about it and sentenced the kid to a ton of community service hours instead of incarceration.
The horse was working on a new adventure when just a few days ago Becky came into the house and didn’t get the door quite closed, and it blew open. The horse politely walked into the house and looked down the hall when it was seen. Becky shooed it out of the house, but it did manage to go to the bathroom – No. 2 – on the floor before leaving.
Then on Wednesday night when the big storms blew through here the horse was struck by lightning and killed.
I am going to miss that horse.
GONE TOO SOON: Even more than the horse I am going to miss three friends who passed away in the last few days. One was a master optician; one was a Hall of Fame coach and the other knew more about the sewer system of Grantsville than anyone I have ever known.
I knew two of them back in my school days and was related to one. The other I got to know while a member of town council.
One of the problems of living to be my age is you lose so many friends but one of the benefits of living to my age is you have lived to my age, and you have so many wonderful memories.
THE CURSE OF BEING CHRISTIAN: I am on he internet quite a bit these days and have found there are an awful lot of people out there attacking not only conservatives but Christians.
Here is what I told some of those saying my God did not exist:
“God is the God of everybody. The God of atheists who do not believe in God. The God of agnostics (which I used to be) who are not sure what they believe about God. The God non-practicing believers and practicing believers no matter what faith they are. The faiths differ on the tenets of how they view God and his prophets. It is those differences that cause most of the conflicts in the world now and yesterday and probably in the future.
“Some say you cannot see God, so you have no proof he exists. Yet you cannot see the wind either, yet you know it exists.
“Why be willing to believe one and not the other?
“I say if you look at the world, the skies, the hills, the mountains and believe all of this happened by happenstance then you have no wonderment, imagination and you are denying the very science you choose to follow as your God.
“In other words, you fail to follow the science by being unwilling to question the possibility of a God. In other words, you are a hypocrite to your very beliefs by being unwilling to question.
“I read a lot of posts on the Neil deGrasse Tyson Group which has some 1.1 million members where people routinely savage God and religion. I think it’s something they do to make them feel important and intellectual when many are of lesser intelligence. I feel this way based not on their beliefs but on their intransigence to think about another possibility.
“I also see them blast President Donald Trump and those who support him as stupid and easily controlled and malleable. I voted for President Trump and will vote for President Trump in 2024.
“Why? Because I feel people who support Joe Biden are not too smart either. I only need to look at what has happened in the past three years to support my belief because America is going to hell in the proverbial handbasket with the people now leading the country leading the country.
“And I do not think I am stupid. The average of the five IQ tests I have taken is 153 with the lowest being 143 and I have taken and scored high enough on the Mensa International test to join but I did not join.
“I don’t seek to brag about my intelligence too often because my second cousin Dr. James H. Beall is a genius and as well-known and respected in the scientific and literary community as anyone.
“He, and his two brothers one a singer songwriter and the other a technician and leader of a gospel singing group, are the closest things to brothers I have since my older brother was stillborn.
“I have lived a long life and like anyone else. I have opinions on many things including God and politics. My opinions should be respected just as I respect yours.
“Can you do that?
WHAT THE KENNEDY FAMILY COULD LEARN: Recently 15 members of the family of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got together to endorse the candidacy of Joe Biden for president over their own relative – RFK Jr.
According to NBC: Joseph Kennedy III, the independent candidate’s nephew, said he believes his uncle’s “candidacy poses a threat to the country that I love and the values that I hold. I believe that his candidacy is likely to divert support away from President Biden and end up increasing support for Donald Trump.”
He may be right.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was magnanimous in talking about his family.
“I hear some of my family will be (was) endorsing President Biden today. I am pleased they are politically active — it’s a family tradition. We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.”
No. I disagree.
When I ran for assessor several years ago as a Republican one of my father’s democrat friends was goading him right in front of me by saying “you’re voting straight democrat, right George (George Duskey Jr., my dad)? You wouldn’t vote for a Republican, would you?”
My dad simply said to him “I am voting for my son.”
The Kennedy clan could learn about family from my dad.
Until next time stay safe but don’t live life in a bubble.
