Beech Tree News Network

Evidently there’s not enough cussin’ to go around: Whereit used to say, “call missed”, now the new cell phones it says “Damn!”; “call missed”.
Nowadays you have to swipe charge cards, some one-way; some another. Sometime you need to sign a receipt –sometime not… and so-on. In the old days when you wanted to charge something you just said, “set it down”.

There are times when I love yard work.  There is a certain peacefulness to being outside, digging, planting and trimming, which is what I was doing when my husband, Garey, decided to help me.  Have you ever noticed when a guy gets involved with a project, the noise level increases by several decibels?  It’s because power tools are usually involved.

86,400 is a large number, isn’t it? Imagine having $86,400 in your bank account! What might you do with it? What if someone had 86,400 gold bars? How rich might someone be who could own 86,400 houses? Certainly one would be most blessed if he were able to have 86,400 close friends. Yet, we are not speaking of those things when we refer to the number 86,400. 86,400 equals the number of seconds in a day!

This Wednesday the 23^rd, the 109^th edition of the Fall Classic kicks off as the St. Louis Cardinals play the Boston Red Sox in a classic North/South battle.  I know there are a lot of fans of both teams around this area, possibly more St. Louis than Boston because of proximity.  I thought before we got into the meat of the Series, I’d give a little background.

I don’t usually have a big interest in events occurring in the political arena. But, Congressional action – or inaction – resulting in the recent partial government shutdown caught my attention.

Sauntering down the cowpath, kickin’ clods and thinkin’. Can a computer relate a story to give meaning to a fact, or word; or tell a joke; smile, frown, or make a billy-face? Or put a kid on the shoulder and say, “good job”? No. but a good teacher can.
    Constantly following rules to produce a fine worth of art, music, literature, horse shoeing or flower arranging, will most time result in less than a satisfactory outcome. Learn the rules first, then put them on the back burner. After the rules, plug in vision and creation. Don’t “paint by the numbers.”

My oldest sister has learned to text and she is driving me crazy.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my sister, but all of her texts end with question marks or are so open-ended that I have to respond.  Also, she’s not the most patient person in the world.  The exchange might go something like this:
    HAVE YOU RENTED THAT MOVIE I TOLD YOU ABOUT YESTERDAY?
    NOT YET.
    YOU REALLY SHOULD, IT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH.
    IT SOUNDS REALLY FUNNY.
    THERE’S ANOTHER ONE YOU’LL REALLY LIKE TOO.
And on it goes for another fifteen minutes.

How many times have we heard people say words to the effect, “If you tell me that there is only one way to Heaven, then you are condemning me (or my family, etc.).”? Is this a valid charge?

Next week, October 21-27, is Kentucky Retired Teacher Week. Teachers, active or retired, have a tremendous impact on their communities.

There is an old song that says, "Whatever you can do, I can do better."  This describes the height of ego; it's also not true.    I can plow corn with a one-line mule and a double-shovel, but I know as much about computers as a hog does about the plan of salvation.
In an old Shirley Temple movie, Shirley told her grouchy governess that her duck laid an egg.  The sour governess replied with, "What's so special about that?"  "Can you lay and egg?" Shirley said.