BlackJack TheBlackLab puppy, has eaten his first pair of shoes, which I left out.
We have closets with shoe racks, so there is really no good excuse I can come up with
no excuse for this.
It presented me with a personal dilemma.
Do I punish the puppy for chewing? OR?
Do I acknowledge it is my own fault and resolve to make sure all
shoes are put away, and closet doors are shut?
Or do I do both?
Tigger decided to take exception to the BlackJack being told “bad Dog” rather curiously..
He started Yowling..Loudly..Repetitively.
Then being completely worn out, crawled into HIS cubby to nap,

The last time, we had a puppy was in CowBoyHeaven, Montana.
His name was Rivet, he was a blue heeler,who chewed a pair of very expensive boots through
in less than a hour.
The solution to that one was, the dog got spanked and dragged the boot around all day
from a rope tied to his collar.It worked, but it sucked.
Somehow I don’t see that happening here.
Oh the major dilemma’s in life.

Angels Unseen

Among us are angels, though quietly not seen.
On earth they are servants, in Heaven they are enthroned,
Singing the glories and beauty of Jesus Christ the King.

How busy we people seek to reap glory and fame.
For self do we seek acknowledgement, acclaim.
Endlessly seeking we try to fill the void,
Left in our souls when waywardly, we ignore the Christ, the King.
Who reigns now in Heaven, while we live ashamed.

Then like The good shepherd He brings to our life
Angel servants who give, Guidance to the pathway of life.
This flows from the river, Of the Water of Life.

A light that was dimmed with glory bursts
Bright, on the shining faces of the angels,
Servants loyal to The Christ.
Their love and the faith shine right from the Word.
The Glory of God, quiet servants of the Christ who is king.

For self they don’t seek, to others they give.
For Christ is the example, they follow in life,
From the light that is His. This leads us from astray
To the throne that is His which shines with
The Glory, The Beauty of His Illuminated life.

For those of you who lack knowledge in the areas of firearms,swat responsibilities,and in pure self defense.

In this silly world of ours, many Police force’s have “familiarization” CLASSES to try to help officers tell a lethal weapon from a harmless imitation…..Since the imitations are made to look as “realistic” as possible, this is hard to do under the best of circumstances, let alone when one is “brought to bear”, on you in a “confrontation”!!!
To tell the truth, no cop will shoot a 5 yr old with a gun…. if it’s a 15 yr old, I doubt if I’d even consider that it might be anything in his hand other than a “lethal” weapon, and “Act Accordingly”……. I for one, do not feel like making a mistake like that, and “waking up dead”.

1. A pellet gun is or can be a “lethal” weapon !!!
If in fact the pistol carried by the 15 yr old boy, was a “pellet” gun as defined in the
world of firearms, you must know that the projectile normally fired, is similar in size to a .22 caliber bullet., It is normally “pointed”, and is VERY capable of penetrating the skin, putting out eyes, and if fired at close range, and hitting a “soft area”, it can (and has many times), “KILL”. It IS considered a “Lethal” weapon, at close range by anyone familiar with weapons, and is used daily to kill “varmints”.

2. A SWAT team is a select group of people, chosen because they exhibit “superb”, courage, self control, skill, in circumstances which put “them” and others in extreme danger….in other words, they can be trusted as much as any man around, to THINK, and make a “rational”, judgement call, as to the use of Deadly Force, in the split second, usually available to them to do so…..

3. ANY law enforcement officer (or Military member), knows when he, she takes the job, that they may well put themselves in harms way, to defend “”You”"…..the 1,100 kids, the teachers, the cafeteria workers, etc etc etc…..

4. Be advised…. If any trained person is confronted with a “pellet” gun at close range, and is armed, they will “Shoot”….. They are there to “Protect” us….not commit voluntary suicide.

5. Those of you who think otherwise, lack either knowledge or common sense. A “COP” is in the same position as a GI I do NOT expect any Man or Woman, who is defending my rights, to commit suicide…… That’s why we arm them.

6. I CERTAINLY don’t advocate the use of “Deadly Force”, if it’s not deemed necessary……I have kids too, and grandkids also…..But it’s seldom that these trained people make a bad call.

7. If you were there, in the same position, under the same circumstances, having that weapon pointed at you, by who the heck ever…..you’d either shoot, or cry, and get shot,wounded, killed…..depending on your level of intelligence.

8. I am sorry the young man was killed…..and sorry for the way the Lt. must feel….but I don’t know a single man I served with in the US ARMY, who would not have done the same…… I would have, because I “Had to”…

I thank each and every member of our Police Departments for their service. Protecting “Us”, for harm, and putting themselves in harms way, many times a day….
God Bless them ALL!

Age 15 is a tough time,its the point in life where your family says your just a kid, and your brain
says your all grown up.
Our grandson is 15, he has set world universewide records for being grounded,
seems like he is always getting his butt chewed on, or grounded.
In fact I was teasing his mama that he won’t be allowed out till he is 932 years old.

Actually that’s ok, as long as he consistently makes bad decisions, he gets to take responsibility for them.

Young Christopher Penley, of Winter Springs,Florida made some pretty bad decisions also.
He took a gun to school. Yes it was a pellet gun, but no one knew that except Christopher, who had repainted the barrel so it looked like a 9 mm.
He pointed the gun at other students, and then ultimately at a member of the sheriffs department.
Lt. Michael Weippert shot him on Friday.
The result , Christopher Penley was declared clinically brain dead Saturday.

It is a terrible terrible thing to lose a child.
It doesn’t matter how, it’s terrible. It changes your life forever.
I am so sorry for the family’s loss.

For those of you who have commented that the swat officer should be charged with murder however,
I think you need to rethink this. Seriously rethink it.

Christopher Penley pulled a gun in a classroom Friday and pointed it at other students.
He later raised the weapon at a deputy. He made some bad decisions.
His family will spend the rest of their lives mourning and wondering what they could have done
differently.

Christopher’s dad, Ralph Penley had gone to the school in hopes of intervening with his son.
For whatever reason, this did not happen ,Ralph Penley was not allowed to speak to his son.
He was told that Christopher had been shot.

At a news conference, Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger displayed both a real 9 mm and the actual pellet gun used by the student, side by side. They were nearly identical in appearance. “We have an obligation — not only to the suspect, to the deputies and police officers, but obviously to those 1,100 students, staff and faculty here,” Eslinger said. The sheriff said SWAT team member Lt. Michael Weippert had positioned himself between Penley and two occupied classrooms. “(Penley) then raised his firearm in a tactical position and pointed it at Lt. Weippert, and Lt. Weippert decided to use deadly force,” Eslinger said.

Make no mistake please, the officer did what he was trained to do, he responded to a situation of deadly force, and shot the young man. I don’t blame the officer, he did exactly what he should have done. Under the same circumstances I would have done the same thing. The command is given, drop the weapon.
Well if you don’t drop it, chances are your going to die.

No one knows what was in Christopher’s mind last Friday, perhaps it was a prank gone bad,
maybe he was trying to be Joe cool, or Billy bad ass, we don’t know.

I do know this,we cannot train policemen to do their jobs, and then prosecute them for murder because we don’t like the outcome.