DUCKS AND THINGS!

MOMMA MUSKOVI DUCK UPDATE

Momma Duck "Smiley Face" is still sitting on her eggs, sometimes standing over them, as if they're ready to hatch. I'm betting sometime within a week. She goes off nest twice each day to look for water, and a bite to eat--she refused our Ezekiel Bread! It will be fun to send you all a photo of the ducklings. It will also be fun to use our front door again.

The males have left her alone now, never see them "hangin' 'round any more". She is V.E.R.Y. protective. So when I approach Smiley, I talk in a gentle voice, reassuring her that I mean no harm, that all is well, that God will take care of her and us, and not to fear me.

Know what? She just settles in there and looks at me like she understands. All those years on the farm, ducks were just egg factories and/or dinner. Smiley has become one of the family. (I even told her I love her, and I believe she winked!) F.Y.I.-- PG did hear me say that to Smiley!

SOME AA SAYINGS--NOT!

For today's blog I just had to get un-serious for a change. OK?

TEACHER: Remember children..."I" before "E", except in Budweiser.

Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.
-Dave Barry

"Cocaine isn't habit forming. I should know, I've been taking it for years."
-Tallulah Bankhead

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
-Ernest Hemmingway

"You can tell German wine from vinegar by the label."
-Mark Twain

"I would never do crack... I would never do a drug named after a part of my own ass, okay?" -Dennis Leary

I drink to forget I drink

Alcohol was necessary for me so that I could have a good opinion of myself, undisturbed by the facts.

Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water.

The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober. - William Butler Yeats

Liquor made me feel the way I ought to feel without liquor. – Henry Lawson

I’m not as think as you drunk I am. – Unknown

I don't suffer from stress. I'm a carrier.

This is me: "I don't get resentments. I give them." (That's the truth! I'm not necessarily proud of this.)

And here is my favorite "truth"...spoken by a recovered alcoholic:
"The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain times it will haunt the house."

TRIVIA:

Note: Do not know if this is still true:

Police in Helsinki, Finland rarely give parking tickets. They just let the air out of the tires.

Will y'all stay sober with me today? GOOD!

DA BOMB

NEW DAWN OR NEW WORLD?

My Home group NEW DAWN is where between 60-80 people meet every day at 7 AM. For ten years this was a simple "meeting" without "group" affiliation. Last fall we became a Group, and that's when "stuff" began.

One faction (for want of a better word) was armed and ready for battle. They have pushed through a couple dozen "rules", i.e., nobody allowed to talk beyond 2 minutes. Each business meeting there are constructed and voted more rules, or simple changes in wording of former rules. (Reminiscent of a small bureaucracy.)

Another group wishes for the "old" days when we simply held "group conscience" meetings. They (we) realize the necessity of being a contributing group. Note that all the officer positions are filled, about 30 attend the business meetings, and that is all good. The rub comes here:

Each Thursday we invite a 'speaker' who uses about a half hour, then we discuss anything after that. The last two Thursday-morning speakers shared SO 'from the heart'. They are not "old-timers". Both were slightly nervous, and obviously not versed in the grand art of public speaking. But their (one each of last two Thursdays) messages were clear. They are truly loved by their AA fellow members.

(Briefly!) After each of those Thursday meetings, the chairperson received telephone calls (two different callers), saying he had better get some "better speakers". This has devastated the chairperson, and the speakers, and potential speakers.

Almost all members of the group find the behavior APPALLING! Fear pervades those who might be asked to speak. NOTE: the callers--who broke several Traditions--each are heavily influenced by this group of "old guard" long-timers. Bad scene. This self-righteous group of gurus is called by all--even themselves, proudly--"The Jury"...and yes, there IS a judge.

Maybe it is time for a serious "group inventory" or at the least, some serious 8th and 9th Step work.

We are handling it--you betchum, Red Ryder--but I wanted to put this out there, so every one of us realizes that AA with all its miracled wonderful goodness, experiences some member-waywardness now and then, usually at the group level. But there is not a single cold human heart which cannot be melted by prayer, talking, mediating, more prayer, and finally a splitting of a group...if it comes to that.

And as we know, NOTHING which happens now has not happened before. And survival of Alcoholics Anonymous has prevailed through all these nearly 75 years.

The marvelous miracle we witness daily here, upon which we all agree...is that miracle of one drunk talking to another drunk--and both staying sober. Praise God!

Peace and Love, blogger peeps...
Steve E

TRIVIA

Unnoticed sounds pitched too low for the human ear to recognize, still can make people sad. How sad!