Atomic Monster Cafe: What This Country Needs...

...is Lincoln's National Day Of Prayer.

At the midpoint of the Civil War, when the outcome was anything but certain, President Lincoln issued this proclamation.

In it he acknowledged God as the Supreme Authority, and called on our nation to confess its collective sin of forgetting God and being too proud to pray.

The way forward, according to President Lincoln, was one of humility, fasting, repentance and prayer.

Be honest; can you imagine anyone in government today - least of all the dimwit squatting in the White House -

your tax dollars at work

- calling on our nation to repent of our sins, to humble ourselves, to seek God's mercy and forgiveness?

What a stark contrast between the true greatness of Lincoln and the abject incompetence of our current leaders.

Lincoln's Proclamation of April 30, 1863:

Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has by a resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation;

-and-

Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;

-and-

Insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God.

We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by this my proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer.

And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite at their several places of public worship and their respective homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

Please note the change in segment separator from spring to summer.

Even though summer doesn't officially start until June 1st (meteorological) / June 21st (astronomical), 'round these parts summer starts when we open the pool:

...and welcome our first guest of the new season:

ok, really...who invited him again?

Welcome Summer!

Let the games begin.

Out of the tiny reservoir of goodness hidden somewhere in the murky depths of what passes for my heart, I'm granting you a semi-reprieve from my hickory golf tales of woe:

my 1 putt for par leave on #7

That's the only pic from this week's round you must endure, and I include it here solely for the perfect line to the hole the shadow from the flag provided.

The rest of my round was a study in pathetic incompetence, one of those "ok that's it; after this I'm never golfing again!" outings.

But after a perusal of "The Gist Of Golf", followed by a visit to the driving range where I worked on Vardon's admonition that "your waist is your pivot point so swivel, don't sway", all is well again.

If only I could hit from the tees like I do from the driving range, I'd be happy.

Not sure how long that little bit of magic will take, but I'm working on it.

In other hickory news...

now that was news...Sept 20, 1913

...I bought this early 1900's "spliced head" brassie off ebay:

look closely and you can see where the head is spliced to the hickory shaft

the splice is a little easier to see in this pic

There absolutely needs to be whipping over that splice before I play with it, but I've never applied whipping to a hickory club before.

So, before attempting it on my "new" (to me) brassie, I first watched a helpful video from the <The Hickory Hacker>, then practiced on my mid iron and niblick:

mid iron on the left, niblick on the right

As the video says, whipping (heavy waxed thread) is functional, not just decorative.

At point of contact with the ball (or sand, in the case of the niblick) there's tremendous pressure on the hickory shaft above the head, radiating about halfway up the shaft.

The whipping adds much needed reinforcement to the shaft, preventing cracks / breaks.

Sans fancy equipment he mentions in the video, I applied the whipping to my hickories you see in the pics above.

And you know what? It's actually kind of fun.

My brassie should be here early next week and I can't wait to "whip" it into playing condition.

Mostly due to Karen's tireless efforts, this past week we said fare-thee-well to Mr. C...

once they totaled our 2005 Chevy Colorado, we decided to "sell 'er to weller"

...and How' Do to Mr. E...

2012 Chevy Equinox

It's got high miles but appears to be in very good condition and will be a "run around town" vehicle for the most part.

Didn't really want to shell out the $$'s for a vehicle right now, but we are very cognizant of and grateful for God's care and guidance through all of this.

Ok, step away from the blog, do not make eye contact, and 23 Skidoo...

he's got my vote

"Mystik Dan" wins at 18-1 odds and calls into question the conventional wisdom, "the fastest horse may not always win, but it's still a good idea to bet on him"