Christmas

Just a few shots of the family at Christmastime. As you may have figured we made to Duke yesterday. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and we wish you a very Happy New Year.

More Mayberry Trivia

If you folks really like this stuff check out this site for more of the same.

Andy Trivia--The Arrest of the Fun Girls

At the beginning of this episode Andy, Helen, Barney and Thelma Lou are trying to decide where to eat supper. What are two places mentioned?
1. Andy mentions the first possibilty, but Barney doesn't like it on Mondays because the special is Creamed Chicken and he doesn't like his meat covered in a heavy sauce.
2. Helen is reluctant to mention this place but Barney insists that she does and of course, Barney cuts it down immediately.
3. Where do they really end up eating that evening?
4. When the fun girls speed through town, Andy estimates that they were doing 50 mph, but when he confronts them what does he say they were doing?
5. What was the speed limit when they were caught speeding?
6. and 7. What are the two fun girls names?
8. Where is one of them from?
9. I love these last two shots where the guys are trying to explain the fun girls to Helen and Thelma Lou. What do they propose to make it up to them?
10. What happens the next time the four get together? (This one really is a no-brainer.)

Stevens Center

I was privileged to sing with a 120+ voice choir last night at the Stevens Center in Winston-Salem. We had a 40 piece orchestra play for us. Five choirs were combined to put on the program for the public. It was a free concert if you don't count the food donations to the 2nd Harvest Food Bank. It was the first time I had been to the Stevens Center. Ever. Another one of our choir members (who grew up in this area) said he had not been there since it was changed from the Carolina Theater. I may have to ask my Asst. Fire Marshall friend about that sign that reads, "IN CASE OF FIRE CUT ROPE." Oh and BTW, the gentleman in the top hat is supposed to be Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Refdesk

Do any of you folks use refdesk? Its a pretty neat site. I use it at work to check addresses for packages I am shipping via UPS and DHL. You can find it here. There are interesting bits of news every day if you care for that sort of thing. Today you can find the story about President Taft pardoning the captain of The General Slocum, a passenger ship in New York City. Captain Van Schiack was charged with negligence in a fire that caused the death of over 1,000 people as the ship was traveling up the East River. This is a quite fantastic story. You should read the entire article, but I will post a couple paragraphs just to peak your interest:

On board the Slocum, where the Captain has ultimate safety authority, he did not demand that hoses and faulty lifejackets be replaced. The fire hoses fell apart when the crew attempted to put out the fire. Also, the crew had never had a fire drill. Although the ship had lifeboats and life preservers, they were useless. Survivors reported that the life preservers were rotten and fell apart in their hands. The lifeboats were tied up and inaccessible. Desperate mothers placed life jackets on their children and tossed them into the water, only to watch in horror as their children sank instead of floated, due to the condition of the jackets. Also, the population of the boat consisted mainly of women and children, most of whom could not swim. It has been suggested that the manager of the life preserver manufacturer actually placed iron bars inside the Cork preservers to meet minimum weight requirements at the time. Managers of the company (Nonpareil Cork Works) were indicted, but not convicted. Many of the life preservers had been filled with cheap and less effective granulated cork and brought up to proper weight by the inclusion of the iron weights. Canvas covers, rotten with age, split and scattered the powdered cork.

The Pickle Story

So this epi deals with Aunt Bea's entering her pickles in the contest at the county fair. She is up against Clara Edwards who has won several years in a row. Now we get down to the trivia questions. BTW, these really aren't too hard as long as you keep up with the shows on WFMY (Ch. 2 in Greensboro.)

1. At the beginning of the show, how many years in a row had Clara won the blue ribbon for her pickles?
2. How many years in a row has Aunt Bea lost in the same contest?
3. What did Mr. Edwards tell Clara about her pickles?
4. How did Andy and Barney get rid of Aunt Bea's batch of pickles after switching them with the store-bought pickles?
5. What was the one-word term that one of the judges used to describe Aunt Bea's pickles at the fair?
6. Who won the blue ribbon in the pickle contest at the end of the show?
7. How many quarts did Aunt Bea make in order to have some for the fair toward the end of the show?

Sarah with Professor

Sarah with Professor
Originally uploaded by jwoodward007

Actually, I am just testing how to blog using Flickr here. Ben just gave me a bit of education here as to how this works. I just decided to use this shot because Sarah seemed to like her expression here.

Visit to Marshall U.

We had seen the movie, We Are Marshall, starring Mathew McConaughey, and we thought it would be neat to stop by while we were passing through Huntington to see the fountain that is stopped for one day a year. Apparently, it is stopped at other times too. We found this tent covering something behind the student center, just exactly where the map says the fountain is supposed to be. We asked a couple of students if that was the fountain under the tent. They said yes. They didn't know why it was covered. I asked if they covered it for the winter. They said no. They covered only a couple days ago. Oh well, we will have to come back another time to see the fountain on the campus of Marshall University. BTW, if you haven't seen the flick its pretty good. Everyone who watches will be a Marshall fan at least while watching the movie.

Christmas Decorations

Here is the way one home was decorated last weekend when we were in Louisville. Its just down the street from Ben and Sarah.

The Lady of the Hour

We were glad to be able to be a part of the celebration of Sarah Harrison Woodward receiving her Masters of Arts in Biblical Counseling on Friday, December 7, 2007. The 200th Commencement of SBTS was a very historic event as it was celebrated on a very historic day (Pearl Harbor Day.) Dr. Al Mohler gave an excellent message on the importance of preaching the Word of the Lord. Its too bad more people weren't there. Of course, not too many more could have been inside the chapel, 'cause there was standing room only, and really not too much of that.

Commencement

Here are several shots of the procession at Southern. BTW, my son kinda made fun of my southern accent over the weekend esp. in my pronunciation of the word "cup." I thought everybody knew I got my southern accent from drinking out of Dixie cups.
Professor Gentry, the one with the beard in the last shot, with the red panels and sleeves is an OT professor, or Hebrew professor. Someone asked him which English translation he liked of the Old Testament, and he said, "I don't know; I haven't read one in about 35 years."

Trip to Louisville

Here is my first post of the trip to Louisville. As you can see we ran into some areas that got some snow. These two pics are in Bluefield, WV. Kinda gets you in the mood for Christmas if you aren't already in it. We had a great trip and I will tell more about it with more pics in later posts.

We're off to Louisville!

We are heading to Louisville in the AM and going to see our daughter-in-law get her Masters in Biblical Counseling. We will get to see her parents as well. Just thought I'd let you know that I might not be posting much for the next few days.

Two Blogs, Now Three on One Topic

Two of the blogs I read are listed below and today they both just happen to have the same topic, the new movie, The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Today I won't bother to quote either one, but I will provide the links for you to read them in their entirety.
Al Mohler

J.D. Greear

Dr. Mohler had the priviledge of an advanced viewing and has read all 3 books of His Dark Materials. Let me just give you a hint that neither blog is supporting the theme presented in the flick.

Andy Again

I can clearly see from the last quiz that I made the questions too easy. So here is a general quiz with several extra credit questions from several episodes:
1. How far is Mayberry from Raleigh (in miles?)
2. What is the street address of Andy Taylor?
3. Where is Malcom Merriweather from? (City and Country)
4. Who is Gerald Whitfield?
5. Who is Netty Albright?
6. One evening Carter French was having a boiled dinner at the fire station. What were they going to do afterward?

Dr. Mohler's Blog

It is sad that I am not a prolific reader. I do read some things, so I try to make sure that what little I read, that at least some of it is very good material. I read Dr. Al Mohler's blog and commentaries from time to time.

"The Dawkins Delusion"

is showing as the current commentary although it is dated Oct. 26, 2007. Let me assure you that it is not out of date by any means. Dr. Mohler talks about Richard Dawkins latest book, The God Delusion here:
"Though The God Delusion is intended more as an attack upon theism than as a defense of evolutionary theory, the framework of evolution is never far from Dawkins' mind. In his opening chapter, he argues that most legitimate scientists--indeed all who really understand the issues at stake--are atheists of one sort or another."
Everyone should read the entire commentary, but his closing comments sum it up:
"If Dawkins is so certain that theism is dead, why would he devote so much of his time and energy to opposing it? A man who is genuinely certain that Christianity is passing away would feel no need to write a 400-page book in order to urge its passing."
We are blessed to be able to read the thoughts of Biblical scholars on a daily basis. Makes me wonder why I don't read more. Period.

Another Andy

I have had some requests to make the Andy questions a tad bit easier. So here is my latest effort.
1. What does the song in the above video make Briscoe Darling do? (Hint: Watch Briscoe real closely during the song. He is the one playing the jug.)
2. Now from what episode is this clip found? (Hint: At the beginning of this show, Opie shows Andy some tricks he has learned like making a wishbone soft so it won't break, and getting a large egg into a small-mouth milk bottle.)

Musical Christmas Card

You know what is really amazing? These new musical cards that you can get from the folks at Hallmark and other similar places. Just listen to the sound that it puts out from the card. This one is Jose' Feliciano singing Feliz Navidad.