The Best Gift Is the One We Would Like Ourselves

Veterans Honor

Walmart put mulch on sale for $1 a bag, so I loaded the Ichaboat, with Sassy supervising. She enjoyed a drive-through at McDonalds, where the girls at the pay and at the food windows grinned at her. Yesterday she saw 10 friends, including several new ones. The kids waiting at the bus stop love to pet her.

Our helper is helping me kill a new section of lawn with cardboard boxes flattened, held in place by the new mulch. When we were done he discussed needing more mulch at his house, so I promised a bag dropped off later today.

I know his wife loves red roses, so I got a Walmart cup with water and cut a perfect double Veterans Honor rose for her. The first rose to bloom on the stem looked just like the photo above. The second one was a bud just opening and ready to complete the bloom (five sepals open). The sepals enclose the bud, and if only four are open, the bud will not bloom.

No question, that rose was a keeper. I gave lots of extra rainwater to that rose. The bush is growing along the driveway, so we get to see it close-up. But the best gift is the one we want for ourselves. And we still have a few dozen roses growing and blooming.

The KnockOuts have been heavily pruned during the summer, several times. One shrub is reaching toward seven feet tall. They bloom fast and the flowers wither fast, so frequent pruning is good, and severe pruning is best. Norma Boeckler has had the same robust growth from pruning her KnockOut bushes.

We are still in Japanese Beetle season, so I try to get blooms cut before they get destroyed by the pest with no enemies but man. I was able to get two vases for the chiro at once and could have delivered a third to the medical practice the next day. The roses are for sharing, so I prune the deadwood, discard the bad blooms, and choose the best for gifts.

The roses I praise may not perform the same way in other climates. One way to find out is to ask local gardeners which ones grow the best. But this is definitely true - the ones that get the extra rainwater will outperform the rest. Rain is God's liquid fertilizer, mild and effective, benefiting the plant and the ocean of life in the soil that was engineered to care for the plant.

Easy Does It - grows as strong and vigorously
as Mr. Lincoln.

The 25th Anniversary Edition of Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure Is Now in Production.

The revised manuscript and covers are now with the finishing editor, who gets the almost final product onto Create Space (Amazon) and Kindle.

There are always format issues, especially with the books from Lulu, because they were written in Word from another century.

This book is already 25 years old. I saw one used original printing for about $64, plus shipping. The used market is more volatile than cattle futures.

WELS published this and the book went into three printings. Christian News sold it, and so did the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Paul McCain reviewed Liberalism.

McCain reviewed Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure (favorably) for Christian News. He wrote on November 4, 1991: 

I apologize for the personal reflections in my review which apparently incurred even more wrath towards you from your administrators. That was not my intention. I was totally unaware of the pressure on you when I made the remark that the WELS would be wise not to "squander" your influence. In retrospect and with your letter I now feel it was a Providential remark. 

McCain also wrote on November 23, 1991: 

I am completely confused by the charge of slander some level at you for challenging certain theological positions. I suppose that it is possible to do this in an offensive manner, but I have read many of your articles and have always considered them to be objective. You never get "personal" or attack individuals on a personal level. Why have we so completely lost our stomach for polemics? 

At this point, McCain and his friend Herman Otten are quite grumpy with me. So are the various Lutherans sects, especially ELDONA. NPH did not publish Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, 

Nevertheless, the issue is doctrine, not being admired by the people who brought apostasy, ruination, and scandal to the Lutheran church.

All of the invective has been recycled many times over, with Heiser being the latest to call me "crazy" and mutter the word "slander." Hmm. Sounds like ELCA tactics! So I invite people to consult the Internet and various university libraries to verify whether I am right or wrong.  The editor at NPH invited me to list some books, so I have quite an extensive list at the back of Liberalism.