"Sh*tter's full."

Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

By Dr. Jim Ferguson

These days, I have more time to reflect and write since I am no longer running to the hospital or to the office to see patients. Nor am I rushing to get home for supper with the family, helping with homework or taking children to activities. As a grandparent, my role is supportive. I have known older patients who had to take on the role of parents and raise their grandkids because of illness or tragedy. Raising children is the most important job you will ever have, but it is hard work and is best done by younger adults with more energy than seasoned citizens.

Every year The Knoxville Focus holiday schedule disrupts my writing routine. I understand the necessity of giving staff time off for their families. And one would think that after 15 years with the paper, I would have adapted by now. But, after sending next week's essay on Friday the 18th, the following week's essay will be due in four days. Pressure!

I'm always looking for a story. The good news is I write about what I want to, or what interests me at the moment rather than fulfilling an assignment for a paycheck or for school. But this is more challenging in a shortened week.

It is hard to envision President Trump as a sympathetic figure. However, the weasel Merrick Garland's appointment of another special counsel to again investigate "45" is nothing short of the actions of a banana republic. We should count ourselves lucky this guttersnipe was blocked from a Supreme Court appointment. The Soviets often purged those out of favor, sending them to the Gulag. Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping frog-marched his predecessor, Hu Jimtao, out of the communist party congress. He's probably on his way to Chinese Siberia by now. The Democrats are no different and have weaponized the Department of Justice and the intelligence agencies against those who oppose their tyranny.

One might think that love of country, civility and what is best for the American people would override the pathological hatred of President Trump. Apparently, Democrats and the Washington establishment see Trump as the embodiment of evil.

Personification is a concept where abstract qualities are manifest in an individual. Hence, we speak of the devil as the embodiment and personification of evil. Evil does not wear a red suit or carry a pitchfork, but it does have a forked tongue. And apparently Democrats believe Trump is the Devil, Hitler and Putin together in one body. It's hard for me to comprehend such lunacy and such hatred. But then I'm not insane, nor can I comprehend the mind of Jeffrey Dahmer. The only other explanation for the pathological Trump hatred syndrome is that the Democrats are afraid of Trump.

Enough said about the sorry state of our country and the world. In the scatalogical movie quote above, Cousin Eddie was referring to his "RV." But it's not hard to see the metaphorical comparison in the damage that Democrats have done in the last two years. And they promise more of the same. Apparently, "The beatings will continue until morale improves," or until everyone bends a knee to leftist tyranny.

Although it's a month until the Winter Solstice and the official onset of winter, it's already winter for me. On this Sunday afternoon before Thanksgiving, I'm sitting in front of a fire and basking in its warmth. We live in a woodland and have lots of trees which, like everything else, get old and die. We harvest these dead giants and burn them to warm my buns and my spirit.

Global warming... er ... climate change nutjobs like Al Gore and John Kerry would have me sit in the cold and dark. I assure you these elitists won't share the misery of the hoi pilloi. Tragically, the European nut job, Greta Thunberg, will be freezing her keister off this winter due to the European Union's idiocy regarding fossil fuels, hatred of President Trump and reliance on Putin. How's that working out?

I will remain a frugal conservationist, but I will not bend a knee to leftist tyranny which is based on computer models. I'm not a computer nerd, but I know that in regard to data, "junk in, junk out." And the data in these computer models are suspect. Heck, the weatherman can't reliably predict whether it will rain tomorrow, let alone predict the climate in fifty or a hundred years.

Actually, I like hotter weather and would choose it over being cold. As I've aged I have maintained my weight, but I fear that insulating fat has moved from my extremities to my midriff. Since I now seem to be more cold-natured, one of my many blessings is an electric blanket which I use for a few minutes before I get in bed. Before electric blankets, people used copper bed warmers filled with fire embers! Yikes, no wonder fires and scorched sheets were so common.

A successful marriage depends on communication, commitment, appreciation and negotiation. Becky is less cold-natured than me and does not use her side of the electric blanket very often. She also ascribes to the Pat Head Summitt philosophy that the first thing you do in the morning is make your bed. That way your first act of the day is an accomplishment. I don't know about Ms. Summit, but Becky is as persnickety as a Marine Sergeant about how the bed is made. Let's say that I'm far less engaged in such details and we've decided that I should just get out of her way. The problem is the electric blanket cords are "unsightly" and someone might break into our house and be offended by cords running under the bed skirts! Years ago we "settled" on the electric blanket issue. In October, it goes on the bed and comes off in April.

So these are my thoughts four days before Thanksgiving. Perhaps my musings are a bit lighter than the times merit. But that's OK. I am thankful for life, wife and my Lord Jesus Christ. Cousin Eddie didn't seem to worry about Democrats and the future. Perhaps like me, Cousin Eddie ascribes to the Master's advice of Matthew 6:25-27.

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