Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Merry Christmas to all and to all a thank you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Merry Christmas all. I have only been on the Forum since December 9th, 7:29 PM Eastern Time, but I have learned alot. I am thankful for that. Did I remember to say Merry Christmas?

I am also thankful for God constantly helping me fill up my pond and I want a new dam for Christmas.

Oh, and Merry Christmas to all in case I forgot to mention that.

A great piece from Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey says:
I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory of evolution.
Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game.
So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game. "But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue. Yes, and this is the United States of America, a country founded on Christian principles. According to our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1. So what would you expect-somebody chanting Hare Krishna? If I went to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer. If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer. If I went to a ping pong match in China, I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha. And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me one bit. When in Rome .. "But what about the atheists?" is another argument. What about them? Nobody is asking them to be baptized. We're not going to pass the collection plate. Just humor us for 30 seconds. If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear plugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand. Call your lawyer!
Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do. I don't think a short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.

Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights. Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating; to pray before we go to sleep. Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying.
God, help us.
And if that last sentence offends you, well ... just sue me.
The silent majority has been silent too long. It's time we let that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard.... that the vast majority don't care what they want. It is time the majority rules! It's time we tell them, you don't have to pray; you don't have to say the pledge of allegiance; you don't have to believe in God or attend services that honor Him. That is your right, and we will honor your right. But by golly, you are no longer going to take our rights away. We are fighting back ... and we WILL WIN!
God bless us one and all ... especially those who denounce Him. God bless America, despite all her faults. She is still the greatest nation of all.
God bless our service men who are fighting to protect our right to pray and worship God.
May 2006 be the year the silent majority is heard and we put God back as the foundation of our families and institutions.

Keep looking up.

And by the way MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

F R E E D O M ! ! ! !


Where does it come from and can a majority just take it away? Can majority rule just up and vote to take your land and pond and let the public use it with out compensation? Please read the following which is clear -- the majority does not just rule as it wants -- in this country it never has and if it ever does none of us will be safe in the freedom which we were endowed with by our creator. I am thankful for freedom that comes from God and that our forefathers were wise in their protection of God given freedoms.

Selected Parts of the
Statement of
HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS


Our nation, divinely blessed, has much to be thankful for. The blessings of liberty resulting from the republic our forefathers designed have far surpassed the wildest dreams of all previous generations.

The form of government secured by the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, and the Constitution is unique in history and reflects the strongly held beliefs of the American Revolutionaries.

At the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a Mrs. Powel anxiously awaited the results, and as Benjamin Franklin emerged from the long task now finished, asked him directly: "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic if you can keep it" responded Franklin.

The term republic had a significant meaning for both of them and all early Americans. It meant a lot more than just representative government and was a form of government in stark contrast to pure democracy where the majority dictated laws and rights. And getting rid of the English monarchy was what the Revolution was all about, so a monarchy was out of the question.

The American Republic required strict limitation of government power. Those powers permitted would be precisely defined and delegated by the people, with all public officials being bound by their oath of office to uphold the Constitution. The democratic process would be limited to the election of our leaders and not used for granting special privileges to any group or individual nor for defining rights.

Federalism, the binding together loosely of the several states, would serve to prevent the concentration of power in a central government and was a crucial element in the new Republic. The authors of the Constitution wrote strict limits on the national government and strove to protect the rights and powers of the states and the people.

Dividing and keeping separate the legislative, executive, and the judiciary branches, provided the checks and balances thought needed to preserve the Republic the Constitution created and the best way to preserve individual liberty.

The American Revolutionaries clearly chose liberty over securit....

The Revolution and subsequent Constitution settled the question as to which authority should rule man's action: the individual or the state. The authors of the Constitution clearly understood that man has free will to make personal choices and be responsible for the consequences of his own actions. Man, they knew, was not to be simply a cog in a wheel, or a single cell of an organism, or a branch of a tree, but an individual with a free will and responsibility for his eternal soul as well as his life on earth. If God could permit spiritual freedom, government certainly ought to permit the political freedom that allows one to pursue life's dreams and assume one's responsibilities. If man can achieve spiritual redemption through grace, which allows him to use the released spiritual energy to pursue man's highest and noblest goals, so should man's mind, body, and property be freed from the burdens of unchecked government authority. The Founders were confident that this would release the creative human energy required to produce the goods and services that would improve the living standards of all mankind.

Minimizing government authority over the people was critical to this endeavor. Just as the individual was key to salvation, individual effort was the key to worldly endeavors. Little doubt existed that material abundance and sustenance came from work and effort, family, friends, church, and voluntary community action, as long as government did not obstruct.

No doubts were cast as to where rights came from. They came from the Creator, and if government could not grant rights to individuals, it surely should not be able to take them away. If government could provide rights or privileges, it was reasoned, it could only occur at the expense of someone else or with the loss of personal liberty in general. Our constitutional Republic, according to our Founders, should above all else protect the rights of the minority against the abuses of an authoritarian majority. They feared democracy as much as monarchy and demanded a weak executive, a restrained court, and a handicapped legislature.

The colonists wanted to be free of the King's oppressive high taxes and burdensome regulations. It annoyed them to no end that even the trees on their own property could not be cut without the King's permission. The King kept the best trees for himself and his shipbuilding industry. This violation of property ownership prompted the colonists to use the pine tree on an early revolutionary flag to symbolize the freedom they sought.

The Constitution made it clear that the government was not to interfere with productive non-violent human energy. This is the key element that has permitted America's great achievements. It was a great plan; we should all be thankful for the bravery and wisdom of those who established this nation and secured the Constitution for us. We have been the political and economic envy of the world. We have truly been blessed. The Founders often spoke of "divine providence" and that God willed us this great nation. It has been a grand experiment, but it is important that the fundamental moral premises that underpin this nation are understood and maintained.

Merry Christmas to all. This is how we spent our Christmas eve. One of many things to be thankful for.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

In the stillness of the sunrise we take time to thank you God for all things, great and small.

On this special day of new beginnings , we give thanks that we can be like children ,amazed at the glory of its every element.

In the many people of kindness and good cheer that we have been allowed to meet on this forum we give thanks and ask your blessings upon.

Grant us the wisdom to remember that we, like all things ,grow from small beginnings each nurtured along the way by the kindness of others after your example.

As Tiny Tim exclaimed " God Bless Us , Every One "

AMEN..!!!!!!

I second George on that AMEN! Thank you Eric for posting a nugget everyday to keep us focused on the true meaning of the season. Your last post above was a PERFECT example of what we all should be thankful for (and focused on). Thanks again for taking the time spend on this thread.

Have a VERY Merry Christmas today, and may God continue to watch over us all!

Deb

The people on Pond Boss are some of the best and I am so happy to be able to read their thoughts and such as it gives you (me) so much to be thankful for and I do appreciate each and everyone. This may sound mushy but it is not intended to be as such. If a person can not express their happiness I feel for them. This is the time to place more thought on the Lord and last night I spent a few hours of quiet time in bed talking to HIM. Lets all take time to thank God in our own special way-please. Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all.

The Origin of "Xmas"
The abbreviation of "Xmas" for Christmas, long reviled by many conservative and Low Church Christians, is not nearly as blasphemous as many contend. Rather than a sacrilegious removal of "Christ" from Christmas and replacing him with an unknown, as some claim, the "Xmas" abbreviation has a long history in the church. In Greek, the language in which the New Testament was first written, "chi" (c or C), which is almost identical to the Roman alphabet "X," is the first letter of the word "Christ" (cristoV, or as it would be written in older manuscripts, CRISTOS). In fact, the symbol of the fish in the early church came from using the first letter of several titles used for Jesus (Jesus Christ Son of God Savior) that when combined spelled the Greek word for fish (icquV, ichthus).

In the early days of printing when typesetting was done by hand and was very tedious and expensive, abbreviations were common. The church began to use the abbreviation C for the word "Christ" in religious publications. From there, the abbreviation moved into general use in newspapers and other publications, and "Xmas" became an accepted way of printing "Christmas."

SO......... Merry Xmas to all! - Brian

I love it when origins of things can be explained in an orderly and logical fashion. Just the engineer in me.

Time to re-start the Christmas edition PB thread for those who missed it last year. Worth re-reading.

Here's a wish that each of you experience the true meaning of the season !!!

Eric, my good friend, thank you for recommending that I re-read last years posts. I did and am renewed.

In the spirit of the reason for the season, the real season, I wish all of my friends a Merry Christmas and don't really give a diddley damn whether anyone has a happy holiday. Heck, it's Christmas and I can get pretty radical about it. Along with some deep spiritual beliefs, I still believe in Santa Claus and expect to get more good things than I deserve.

To you, my friends, I wish peace, love, happiness, wisdom and joy. A little more rain wouldn't hurt.

Merry Christmas to all from West Texas. As the great Texan Kinky Freidman always says, "May the God of your choice bestow many blessings on you". My biggest blessing is my son coming home from Japan. I haven't seen him in a year and a half so it will be a great Christmas for Mom and me. I hope the New Year brings everyone the needed rain to fill their ponds. I know Zephyr Pond could use it. I must go now and get the chimmney cleaned up for Santa

My best Christmas ever started out as the worst.

Two years ago we had a bad ice storm 3 days before Christmas. Over 100,000 people lost power from all the transmission lines down, some directly, some due to toppled trees. Some had no electric for 2 weeks. I woke up at first light and found we were included in this group.

The first day we had a glimmer of hope when an AEP truck showed up in our driveway. It turned out to be bad news - they wanted access through us to work the high-tension line that crosses the back corner of our property. We knew that if they were having to fix major lines like that one, it could be a long time before the electric came back on.

My parents, living in town, never lost power, so I took the kids in to stay with them while my wife and I hunkered down to keep everything fed, watered, and thawed. Fortunately our fireplace can handle heating our house. Even when it got cold (dropped to the teens the 2nd day and stayed there) it kept our house above 60 inside. Unfortunately, you need to feed it every hour or two, which meant nights with disturbed (at best) sleep.

Days we spent running our generator, first at the horse barn to pump the well there for the horses and heat everything there up for the day, then at the house to water the cows and thaw their watering trough out. The system is supposed to feed everything from one location, but due a combination of line loss and the pump at the house starting to go bad (didn't die until Spring, fortunately), we had to move the generator back and forth to get the pumps to work right. But the house pump was acting so flaky on the generator I didn't want to risk using it for much more than watering livestock and storing water for toilets. So no showers, laundry, or dishwashing.

We were just keeping up, while starting to get run down ourselves. I couldn't get an interest in eating, which is definitely a sign of depression with me. We missed the kids, and one of us going into town to see them at night (and to get a shower) just left the one remaining "on watch" feeling lonely. Then, on Christmas morning (4th day with no power), the generator stopped about 5 minutes after we fired it up and wouldn't restart.

Where do you go to get a generator fixed on Christmas morning? Or to even buy a new one, presuming every generator in the middle section of the state hadn't already been sold (which they had)? My wife had the brilliant idea of taking it to our oldest (horse) border's place, as her husband is a darn good mechanic, on top of which they are both Aces. We loaded the generator up and off she went, while I stayed behind and did what I could with no power at all.

My Christmas miracle occurred a couple hours later when she returned with the generator, working (low oil - my bad, but easy to miss the first time when befuddled) AND two covered plates stuffed full of Christmas dinner STILL WARM! We fired up the generator to start heating the hot water tank at the barn and I ate what is undoubtedly the most appreciated meal of my life (in the truck, with the heater running). Depression over.

We had decided to wait until the kids came home to open presents, but Christmas night my wife had me open one anyway. Pat Boone's Heavy Metal album! Kept the generator running long enough to listen to it.

The next day we brought the kids home, as they were getting a little stir crazy at the grandparents. We figured we'd get chores done and have our Christmas a day late, then make the best of things without electric but all together. Before we hooked up the generator at the house for the evening, I hooked us back up to the power grid for a test and the power crews (who seem converge on big outages from all over the country - we have had crews from as far away as Louisiana working here) had our electric back! Two miracles in two days, both due to good people working over the holidays.

God bless us all this Christmas, especially those who have to work providing essential services.

No Scrooge here. Merry Christmas to all and a very good new year to all.

Thanks ewest for bringing this back up to the top. Christmas is all about gift giving and building ties with family and friends.

Merry Christmas to all.

Merry Christmas everyone

Best wishes to all this Christmas season.

I see rain comming thru OK/TX.

This would be a good time to thank Ewest for all he does on the Forum!! Merry Christmas!

Even though I don't post much, I am here reading everyday so I feel like one of the group.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!... and thanks for a great forum.

Merry Christmas! And have a happy careless time.

I swear when I read the words from the people on this forum either my chest puffs out because I am a proud american or I get a lump in my throat from hearing of the generosity of the people on the great site....Thanks so much!

Each and every day is Christmas Day for me - as well as a day of Thanksgiving.

I am blessed for having a wonderful life, a loving wife and family.
As an old explorer - my career that has taken me to interesting and unknown places.
This year, my survival of a three-year life threatening cancer is an exploratory venture in itself. You, my PB friends, have accompanied me on this journey whether you knew it or not. My toughest days have been softened by your presence, and I thank you.

I wake up each morning with the realization that this may be my last day on this earth, and think, what I’m going to do today?
I’ll be on “our” pond – watching the sun come up, and thanking God for His Christmas Gift of one more day to live life to the fullest.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

Merry Christmas to All!!