QUARANTINE BLOG # 309

February 2, 2021

Happy Ground Hog Day!   This observance derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerging from its burrow on this day sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den and winter will persist for six more weeks; but if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early.

Stormfax Almanac gives Punksatowanie Phil an estimate of 39% of predicting correctly.  He was make his prognostication from Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania at sunrise with virtually no one in attendance, thanks to the Chinese virus.  According to the Yellow River Game Ranch, in Atlanta, General Beauregard Lee has a 94% accuracy rating (but he will probably have to change his name to satisfy the PCP (Politically Correct Police).

The photograph below, I captured this morning at 7:25 when Phil was awakened from his burrow to see his shadow and predict 6 more weeks of weather (and it was snowing lightly in Punksatowanie).  According to the Punksatowanie Ground Hog Club over the past century plus, Phil has predicted winter 106 times and spring 20 times.  May he be wrong this time!

General Lee predicts an early spring.  May it be so!

Not pointing any fingers.  Just saying ...

👉  Here are two more “Life Hacks” from Lifestyl.com.

It’s sock-sleepers versus barefoot-sleepers.  Socks help your feet warm up quicker, which in turn dilates the blood vessels in your feet, which in many studies correlates to a signal being to sent to your brain that it’s time to switch off, and doze off to sleep.  A couple recent sleep studies have shown sock-sleepers to fall asleep up to 40% faster then barefoot sleepers. 

Through the use of various yoga inversions poses, you may receive relief from your tension headache, putting your head below the level of your heart, by improving overall circulation.  When I get ready to try this one, someone needs to be standing by to call the EMTs or a tow truck, because I’ll never be able to get myself out of the pose.

👉  We started our look at old time baseball parks with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field.  Naturally.  Today we travel to Boston, where the team that now plays in Atlanta first played in the National League.

In 1871 the Boston Red Stockings were established as members of the National Association of Professional Baseball Ball Players League. The nickname Red Stockings came from Cincinnati, where baseball’s first professional team was established in 1869 but disbanded after the 1870 season. For over four decades the Boston franchise, was known as the Red Stockings, Beaneaters, Doves and Braves.

Braves Field opened on August 18, 1915, when the Braves played the St. Louis Cardinals. Braves Field was the first ballpark to seat more than 40,000 fans. In right field was a section of bleachers that seated 2,000 fans and was nicknamed “The Jury Box” after a sportswriter noticed only 12 fans sitting here during a game in 1918.

In 1936, the Braves were renamed the Bees and Braves Field was renamed National League Park. The Bees nickname last only several seasons before being changed back to the Braves in 1941. On opening day 1946, fans went home with green clothes because the seats had been painted, but had not dried.

In 1946 the Braves attracted one million fans for the first time in history, but by the early 1950s attendance decreased dramatically as the Braves struggled on the field. The Braves played their last game at Braves Field on September 21, 1952, losing to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Just weeks before the start of the 1953 season, owner of the Braves, Lou Perini, announced that the club was moving to Milwaukee and their new stadium, County Stadium. Braves Field never housed baseball again.

👉  Two amusing visual presentations:

👉  I was once a millionaire.  And then my Mom threw out my comic books.  Or maybe it was my baseball cards.  Just kidding (although she did give my Golden Books to Merlin Tricket).  Anyway, here are some toys you may wish you had held on to for their collector value.

Garbage Pail Kids cards were introduced after the popularity of Cabbage Patch Kids.  An entire 1985 Garbage Pail Kids Series One sold for $3,600 on eBay.  A real bargain when compared to this single card of 1985 Topps garbage pail kids series 1 Adam Bomb Checklist card.  The Buy It Now price is $1,000 (plus $4.15 shipping).

Collectors are willing to spend a certain amount of money to get what they want, sometimes even passing that limit.  An original Luke Skywalker action figure – with double telescoping light saber – was sold in 2015 for $25,000.  If you want to add one to your collection, eBay has one, out the package, with a Buy It Now price of $1,000 (shipping included).  

Both of those pale in comparison to a rare prototype action figure - the J-slot rocket-firing Boba Fett.  Kenner’s prototype figure of the bounty hunter had made its debut at the New York Toy Fair in 1979 as part of the Empire Strikes Back range, only for the design to be pulled due to concerns about the safety/cost of the toy’s rocket-firing mechanism.  The one pictured sold at auction 2 years ago for $157,500 ($185,850 including buyer’s premium).

👉  Today’s close is by Shawn McEvoy

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Wisdom, suggests the book of Proverbs, is prized above all things. And wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. Therefore, the wisest thing one can do is to trust and honor God.

And trusting and honoring God, according to Proverbs 3:1-12, “not only delivers one from evil, but promises certain rewards.”  Among those rewards are, longevity and peace, favor with God and man, health, and prosperity. Pretty good stuff. Stuff we all like, and seek hard after. And yet...

The section of Proverbs 3 that we quote most often is the part that promises not peace, not health, not abundance. It is the part that promises guidance. “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.”

Let’s not miss that. In this promise-rich portion of Scripture, the part we people recite more often than the others is the part about trusting God more than ourselves so that in our “ways” and “paths,” we will know which way to go.

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