Gardening Advice for Our Favorite Physician

Baby the Crepe Myrtle and
it will produce enormous flowers, which last a long time.

Dear Dr. Lenski (not his real name)

We are glad you enjoyed the fragrant roses we brought to my wife's appointment. They are Falling in Love, Fragrant Cloud, and Veterans Honor.

You brought up the alleged problem of so many oak leaves on your property. I see tree leaves as organic fertilizer and mulch, the best kind. I would mulch the grass you mow into the lawn, to build up the soil and suppress weeds, and I would also mulch and compost the weeds, depending on time and labor available.

Leaves provide a wealth of benefits for soil and plants.

• They block weed growth, hold in moisture, and decompose into the soil.
• They feed the soils creatures that the plants need to be fertile and healthy.
• Soil fungi plan an important role in taking carbon from plant roots and exchanging the nutrition and even the moisture needed by the plant.
• They decrease soil erosion.
• They harbor beneficial insects, which prey upon pests.
• By feeding earthworms they promote tunneling and the penetration of rain into the soil.
• One church member mulched his fruit tree with leaves for the winter and doubled his production.

As my wife claimed, I gathered every  recycling green-bag of leaves I could find on curbs last fall. I could have used far more than the 60+ bags I took home in our Town Car - but not on the same trip, of course.

Long ago I kept all the leaves that fell in my backyard and gathered more. If some were left and in the way in the late spring, I mowed them into flakes, so they were pulled down quickly into the soil by earthworms and mites.

Leaves can be composted in a corner of the yard, in the shade, simply by making a circle of chicken wire. I made a bin three years ago and have never emptied it. The material from our yard and our neighbor's has decomposed into the soil and all plants nearby have thrived.

Red Wiggler earthworms from Uncle Jim's will break down organic matter faster, especially in compost and the moist depths of a mulch layer over the base of plants. I would buy a few thousand and sprinkler them on the places where key plants are, plus a composting area.

https://unclejimswormfarm.com/

Crepe Myrtles

Very few Crepe Myrtle perform at their peak in this area. Some people let them grow under heavy shade. Others fail to prune them. Most do not mulch them at the base during the year - especially in winter when the roots can be fed for months. God's creatures work for us, and the plants respond, if we only give the soil a chance with organic mulching.

Mr. Lincoln produces flower better and faster
than any other rose I have grown.

Mr. Lincoln's tall bud leads to a large,
potently fragrant flower.

Hybrid Rose Selection

I would get three or five roses in a group, to make a mass of color and the chance to build a bouquet from the same roses. If you wanted to feature one type of plant, a group would be very effective.

Here are some choices to consider with characteristics:

Mr. Lincoln - tall, strong growing rose. Old favorite - still rated at the top of the lists. Large tall buds open to a large, very fragrant rose. This plant is very vigorous and always blooming. One rose will fill a room with its aroma.

Pope John Paul II is a white, somewhat fragrant rose that grows at the Vatican. They are quite showy since they bloom so frequently with snow-white blooms. One negative is the aphids' love for them (at least in my yard), but I let one bloom cycle go through to develop to beneficial insects that eat aphids - Flower Flies, Tachinid Flies, Ichneumon Wasps. A second negative is the flowers do not last long in a vase.

Double Delight - This bi-colored rose is also fragrant. I once had a bed of six of them, producing stunning roses all the time. I covered the bed with wood mulch and planted some garlic chives. The rose is loved for its color and its fragrance.

Fragrant Cloud is an unusual color that defies description. It has been called "brick" but that is not exactly  fair. The rose is fragrant with a great shape and produces very well. It is almost as potent in fragrance as Mr. Lincoln.

Pope Paul II is always producing snow-white flowers.
After the first bloom is destroyed by aphids, almost all
the rest bloom without any damage at all.

Fragrant Cloud is always one of my choices.

Double Delight is well named,
so it must be ordered early.

Putting to Rest Jay Webber's Absurd and Ignorant Claim About Luther Teaching Objective Justification. Will the LCMS-WELS-ELS Race Down the Road to Perdition with ELCA?

Has anything changed? Our congregation's member own a copy of the book,
and we have worked through Galatians and Romans in the adult class.

When I know a long wait is ahead at the doctor's office, I take a book along, either Luther's Sermons, Galatians, or something to memorize about gardening, birds, or insects.

My caution was rewarded when we waited for the best doctor in the system. That gave me a chance to work on Chapter 3 of Galatians in Luther's Commentary (also called the Lectures on Galatians).

We saw Jaroslav Pelikan every week at Bethesda Lutheran Church,
where baby Ichabod was a big hit, as all the babies were.
I met Pelikan's brother and father in Cleveland.
His scholarship was honored world-wide and he was one of the greats at Yale.

Luther's Works, Lectures on Galatians, 1535, vol. 26. Translated by J. Pelikan

But the doctrine of justification is this, that we are pronounced righteous and are saved solely by faith in Christ, and without works.
LW, 26, p. 223.

And so all who do not believe lack this blessing and this victory. For this, as John says, is our victory, faith. (1 John 5:4). This is the Chief Doctrine of the Christian faith. The sophists have completely obliterated it, and today the fanatics are obscuring it once more. 
LW, 26, p. 282.

The question is - where do we start? Luther began and ended with the Scriptures, so one can view his works: as

• As sermonic, proclaiming the Gospel,
• As confessional, defining sound doctrine and rejecting error,
• As Biblical exposition, clear explanations of the Word, interpreted by the Word - not man. 

The opportunists begin with Synodical Conference tradition, which is far more mixed than they admit, as I have shown with their forgotten and still existing catechisms.

If CFW Walther, BA, is accepted as the final authority on all things Lutheran, then we are guided in all our thoughts by someone who covered up for his promiscuous, sex addict bishop, who taught him Objective Justification and "saved his life."

If the only way to get a position in WELS, ELS, or LCMS is to proclaim Justification without Faith, then that motivation will pack the luxury boxes at the Lutheran stadiums.

Why should we read the collected works of Walther or Marquart when we have not read, as Lutherans, the best book on Justification by Faith - Luther on Galatians? That makes no sense, except to say we are repeating the era of Crypto-Calvinism where Luther's books were shoved into the backroom at Wittenberg and Calvinist works were featured. That was a time when the government persecuted and arrested genuine Lutherans while promoting and protecting the Crypto-Calvinists. But an accident woke up the Elector and the tables were reversed.

Jay Webber's latest school, the online ILT,
trains and ordained women pastors.

From Moline Memories Blog - One of the Finest Teachers Ever. Burt Ringquist, Calvin Coolidge Junior High, Moline, Illinois

As readers can see, Coolidge was a tough junior high.
Here is the faculty pouncing on a student.
We had our own coroner for Coolidge.
My first English assignment was, "What I Want To Be,
If I Grow Up."

We are wishing Coolidge Teacher and Principal Burt Ringquist "Happy Birthday" now on our Coolidge Facebook Page.

We are just getting started, so join us and leave a greeting and thank-you for Mr. Ringquist.

Here is his personal Facebook page in case you want to go there too:

https://www.facebook.com/burt.ringquist?fref=ts&hc_location=ufi

Gregory L. Jackson

7 hrs · Springdale, AR

Burt Ringquist - outstanding teacher and principal at Coolidge, will have a birthday on July 20th. Let's start with some Happy Birthdays and comments about his classroom excellence.

LikeShow more reactions

CommentShare

5Guy Johnson, Sarah Rosborough Bancroft and 3 others

Comments

Gregory L. Jackson Mr. Ringquist was one of the best teachers I had at any school. He was always ready for fun and had a great project for us in learning about civics and government.

Like · Reply · 7 hrs

Sarah Rosborough Bancroft Happy Birthday Mr Ringquist...one of the best teachers I ever had. He always kept my attention!

Like · Reply · 6 hrs

Gregory L. Jackson Here is a recent photo from his FB page.https://www.facebook.com/burt.ringquist?fref=ts

Like · Reply · 6 hrs

Linda Franks Snyder Nache Happy Birthday Mr Ringqiust!!!

Like · Reply · 5 hrs

Jennifer Steffen Happy Birthday, Mr. Ringquist!

Like · Reply · 5 hrs

Liz Copeland Have a Happy one!!!

Like · Reply · 4 hrs

Guy Johnson Happy Birthday Mr Ringquist!

Like · Reply · 2 hrs

Linda Swanson Lootens Happy birthday Burt

Like · Reply · 2 hrs

Tim Cook Happy Birthday!

Like · Reply · 2 hrs

Becki Searls Grimes 🎂Happy Birthday ~Burt🎂. 
I hope life is treating you wonderfully!!😊

The road to Despicable Me | Where They Are Now | Yale Alumni Magazine

The road to Despicable Me | Where They Are Now | Yale Alumni Magazine: "Cinco Paul ’86 was known at Yale for, among other things, playing the ukulele. He’s now a Hollywood screenwriter specializing in animated children’s films. Among his biggest hits are Horton Hears a Who—an adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book—and Despicable Me, about a supervillain who turns out to be not such a bad guy. His next movie, The Secret Life of Pets, opened this summer.

Y: Tell me about your transition from Yale English major to Important Screenwriter."



'via Blog this'

Selling the Andover Newton Divinity Campus and Merging. A Warning to Lutherans?

The Day Mission Library at Yale Divinity School.

https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4323-a-marriage-at-the-divinity-school?page=1#comments

In 1807, while president of Yale, Timothy Dwight helped found the nation’s first graduate theological seminary—in Andover, Massachusetts. “He was so focused on making us a seminary that he didn’t live to see one at Yale,” says Sarah Birmingham Drummond ’93, dean of faculty and vice president for academic affairs at the Andover Newton Theological School. It was not until 1822 that Yale founded its own divinity school.

More than 200 years later, Andover Newton and Yale Divinity School (YDS) are looking to join forces. ..

Rev. Richard Myers, 3:31pm July 17 2016 |  Flag as inappropriate

I graduated from Andover Newton in 1969. I attended because it has an historic American Baptist Churches connection, Newton, and because of its strength in clinical pastoral education. The Baptist connection is lost here. I do not know of the CPE work that was pioneered at Andover Newton and has become a requirement across the country. I am unhappy with the decision as it seemed to have been made hastily without much consultation with the alums. The vital connection the school had with many churches in Boston and places north will be lost. Central Baptist Theological Seminary found other ways of continuing ministry while selling its campus, and Colgate Rochester Divinity School is maintaining its ministry in Rochester, NY., though planning to sell its campus.

***

All three classes of Bethany Lutheran Seminary - in one pose.
They would fit in my Lincoln Town Car,
which cost a lot less than their Schoolhouse Built on a Bluff.

GJ - Mequon, Mankato, St. Louis, Ft. Wayne... What do these WELS-ELS-LCMS seminaries have in common?

Answer - all four wasted an enormous amount of money on their buildings, letting the cost of seminary education go through the roof and into the clouds. Meanwhile, seminary education went modular and these grand temples of ego were no longer needed - as if they ever were.

At Yale, which costs as much as a Missouri Synod MDiv, the degree is worth something, good for many professional jobs besides being a pastor. In the synodical school, the degree is not even good for a divine call. If the graduate of a synodical school happens to get a call, the authorities may drive him out for questioning their agenda.

ELCA has jumped on the bandwagon to sell and merge their surplus seminary campuses.

Few want to attend a seminary located in Mordor.

Four Blooms on One Stem - Falling in Love Roses. You Didn't Build That

Falling in Love:
the four-blossom stem photo will be posted later.

We decided to make one row of roses the same kind, so we would have bouquets of the that rose from time to time. As I wrote before, Falling in Love has the thorniest canes of all that I have grown over the years. Our helper remarked about it while helping with weeding. I said, "Let that be a lesson." We had a  big laugh over that. And we have one row of Falling in Love.

Yesterday I pointed out the blooms in the nearest one. Mrs. Ichabod said, "Put that in a rose vase. I cut the stem and saw that we had four blooming at once on one strong stem.

Easy Does It rose - floribunda.

On Sunday, Norma Boeckler liked Easy Does It roses so much that she decided to get some for next year. We had them on the altar. Last summer I cut one stem with 7 EDI roses on a single stem.

Floribunda roses are great for lots of color in the rose garden. Hybrid tea roses like Falling in Love will develop more slowly and produce single, spectacular blooms.

Yale's main library - Sterling.

Each rose has its own DNA, special characteristics, and growing patterns. The amount of information in a gene has been compared to all the books in the Yale Library.

I recently found a secular nod to Creation when one writer offered this comment, "Nature designed this creature to..."

That is the key phrase - design, which also implies purpose. Every part of an auto has been designed for a purpose, even if only for decoration. I know about one engineer who would look at the designs and say something like this, "The water pump will stick out of the grill by four inches. Change it."

Anyone can fashion hybrid roses, but only God can place that living information in the rose He created at the beginning.

The church experts would have us understand that they know how to make a difference, if only we pay them a lot of money to share their precious secrets.

But God has already revealed all we need to know, and this is easily accessed in the Scriptures. The same powerful Word that created all that we see and enjoy remains effective in teaching, preaching, and the Sacraments.

You Didn't Built That
A great scientist like Lammerts can re-arrange the DNA of a new rose, by carefully selecting its parents and grandparents, but he cannot create a single item of information within that plant's structure.

Every non-rose grower says, "Roses are difficult to grow, so I have heard." I differ immediately. All we need to know is what the rose likes. I cannot change anything about the design of a given rose. John Paul II will grow large groups of pure white roses, fragrant and stunning in the sunshine, but they do not last so well when cut in a bouquet.

KnockOuts bloom obsessively, but their blooms also age quickly and drop their petals, working feverishly to go to seed instead of blooming again. For that reason I cut them back by 50% every so often - and they love the results, blooming again as fast as possible. John 15:1ff.

Mr. Lincoln has giant beanstalk tendencies, sending up a long cane, sometimes six feet tall. Given some pruning, Mr. Lincoln will produce a rose so fragrant and glorious in deep red that everyone will ask, "Which rose was the one that filled the room with its perfume? My wife loved it."

Mr. Lincoln bloom

Mr. Lincoln bud