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A bus crash leaves a group of tourists stranded in the frigid cold on the journey to Santa's Village (a real place in Lapland, Finland that you can visit!). With the bus driver dead and more children then adults, the worldly group of strangers must rely on each other, and on faith, to get them through the ordeal.
The Cabin Jesus Built is a longer short story that took me about 40 minutes to read. AM Lewis creates a tale of thrilling adventure, faith in the face of adversity, acceptance, and survival. Told from multiple points of view, this story is a companion piece, or more accurately a short prequel, to Lewis' larger Firstborn series.
Lewis' writing is excellent. With only a negligible handful of sentences that I would have written differently, the story flows evenly and at a consistent pace. I was both drawn in and impressed by the accurate portrayals of both adults and teenagers of a variety of cultures, and how each one perceives and interprets both every day events and the sudden turmoil the group finds themselves in.
The only thing I would have liked to see was a little more detail in the bus accident that leaves the group stranded. From the way it was written I thought the bus was merely sliding. It wasn't until the revelation that the bus driver had died that the severity of the accident becomes more clear. I would have liked to see a little more of the chaos that must have ensued during and just after the bus's descent and crash.
To put this succinctly, The Cabin Jesus Built is one of the most beautiful stories I have every read. This story has obvious appeal to those of Christian or Jewish faith, but is really a wonderful story of hope, faith and love in all its forms. No matter your beliefs, this is a heartwarming story told with excellent detail, perspective and forethought. It is sweet without being saccharine, and I think it's a wonderful selection for anyone who is looking for a nice, relatively quick, and uplifting read.
Official Kristine's BRF Rating:
Photo courtesy of Ryan James Christopher via Unsplash.


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Peter Taylor thought Tottenham would have waited until next season to open their new stadium for the sake of 'consistency'.
Spurs were supposed to be in their new stadium, built on the site of the old White Hart Lane, at the beginning of the 2018/19 season but problems with the build forced them to remain at Wembley for what will end up being another eight months.
But the wait is finally over for the Tottenham faithful, who will see Mauricio Pochettino's side take on Crystal Palace in their new ground on Wednesday April 3.
Taylor, who made 123 league appearances for the club, is delighted to see Spurs back where they belong but thought they might end up staying at Wembley until the summer.
"I'm a little bit surprised that they're going back at this time," Taylor told Up Front with James Gray (weekdays 1pm-3pm).
"I thought they might go back at the beginning of next season to be consistent with all the teams in the Premier League."
But Taylor has been impressed with Tottenham's management of the financial difficulties of moving stadium.
"When you've got Arsenal up the road and other clubs that are all of a sudden getting an extra 10,000 people in, you've got to do it," Taylor added.
"Fair play to Tottenham for their planning.
"They knew it would be a tough season in terms of how much they could spend because they knew they had the cost of the stadium.
"But they have got a very good young squad and young players coming through that the manager always gives a chance to.
"It's worked out brilliantly and I think it will be great for them to be back there.
"I've spoken to a lot of people that have been past the stadium and they say it's an incredible size and quality.
"I think it will really help Tottenham kick on."
The club themselves have acknowledged that making the switch mid-season has the potential to derail their campaign across two fronts.
The Spurs boss himself is hoping they can play down their arrival at the ground in case it does exactly that.
"My gut feeling [is that] it will be tough, but I hope and I wish to be in the new stadium," Pochettino said.
"I don't want to think too much. My wish is to play at the new stadium before the end of the season. We'll see what happens.
"We'll see if you can trust more in my gut or the capacity to finish the stadium before the end of the season.
"Of course the people are going to be disappointed to play at Wembley, not because they don't like Wembley – we all love Wembley – but because we expect to already be playing in our new stadium.
"That's why it's going to be massive to play the last five Premier League games in our new stadium.
"I hope that happens, I believe it can be very positive to move to the new stadium."

subset: commoncrawl


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The client's initial brief was to renovate their home but to also consider a possible rear extension.
Our design solution included lowering the floor of the existing basement, to increase the previously restrictive head height, and allow the new lowered floor to connect into the lower rear garden.
The design opened up the floor of rear room on the entry level, to create a double height void containing a new feature staircase that leads to the open plan basement kitchen. The void space also opened up the entrance hall, where previously there was an enclosed, dark, internal circulation core.
The single storey rear extension was designed to be a contemporary addition to the original period house. The location of original rear windows was used to inform the rear extension, utilising the continuation of these aperture lines for a glazed slice through the extension.
Guildford, Surrey


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Phone: 214.389.3106
Event Specialist/Marketing - Sales
Linda Tilford has over eighteen years' experience as a Senior Marketing and Event Specialist for Holden Custom Products.
Prior to joining Holden, Linda spent seven years working in Event Planning/ Marketing and Sales for Prestonwood Country Club in Dallas, Texas.
She uses her vast experience and extensive knowledge about the industry to help each and every customer with their vision to ultimately increase their sales with unique promotional products that include a specific targeted message. Custom gifts and Merchandise designed to reinforce the relationship between a brand and its target audience is Linda's specialty.
Providing the highest level of customer service, attention to detail, and getting you the perfect product on time is her goal.


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If you are interested in publishing your work, images, or design on dogpluscat.com, must first create an account. By uploading images to this com for public access:
We reserve the right to decide not to host or display any wallpaper submitted by users, for any reason. We may attach watermarks to the images uploaded to this com.
If you do not have an account, click here to register.


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At least 85 Colleges are headless while as 600 positions of Assistant Professors are vacant in different educational institutions across Jammu and Kashmir.
While the senior faculty members of the respective Colleges are looking after the positions of Principals, the students have been hit badly owing to growing number of vacant faculty positions in many Colleges.
An official said the adhocism in the Colleges has also badly hit functioning of the institutions without Principals as senior faculty members in charge remain indecisive and apprehensive on taking decisions on crucial matters.
During the past several months, the Secretary Higher Education convened several meetings with College Principals to set up career counseling cells besides announcing other academic oriented initiatives.
"But the initiatives in the Colleges without Principals in position remain a non-starter," the official said.
Apart from 96 Degree Colleges which are functional in the state, the government recently announced to set up 102 new Colleges.
Secretary higher education department, Talat Parvez said all the vacancies will be filled before the commencement of new academic session.


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Sometimes the make'em ups mean something
I'm pretty proud of the Drum Machine show at Kitchen Sink last night, it had an actual message. I really wanted to make the opening song part of the ending of the show, some way to bring the audience participation back in and wrap up with a big ending. It just worked out naturally last night that the opening song was about how to measure a man and the middle was about the breaking of the liberty bell. As I was wrapping up, I was thinking about how the Civil War tested what we believed in as a nation, being divided helped us eventually come back together behind what we really really stand for. Coming through that crucible burnt us down to our essence. The fact that we're divided in two right now will be the test of what America is. If you want to see how strong metal is, you have to try to break it against other metal. To see if a car model can withstand a crash, you crash it. I'm not scared about our nation's current divide. I think it's important. We've been living unexamined for too long. Drum Machine ended with William Penn and Sam Adams telling a young man to go ahead and break the liberty bell, because it's the only way to measure what liberty is. That's pretty cool for twenty minutes out of nothing, eh?


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Heysham Obs
The most exciting thing this morning was a Common Hawker in a mist net - successfully extracted
Ocean Edge/Red Nab incoming tide
Grey Plover - c95
Bar-tailed Godwit - c20 - this and the above very distant along tideline
Med Gull - 4 juveniles (all unringed), adult and 2 2CY
Little Gull - no obvious sign
Sandwich Tern - two adults
Office area
Pretty dead - not a single 'sylvia' seen/heard, reflecting the dreadful breeding season - at this time of year we normally have to beware of Whitethroats 'using' the moth trap
Willow Warbler - one new bird ringed
Swift c15 S 0930-1130
Swallow - 10 S plus others blogging 0930-1130
Common Hawker by office - unusual here
Moths were mundane with a bit of an influx of Antlers and the 'highlights' being Carcina quercana and another Elachista atricomella
The observatory was set up in 1980. It involves ringing,'vis mig' counts (including seabirds) and general monitoring in the Heysham Nature reserve/power stations/harbour area. The statutory moth trap is in place and also a daily log for butterflies, dragonflies etc. We share an office, kindly provided by EDF Energy, with the County Wildlife Trust. This is located next to the Nature Reserve car park. Do call in. Please leave sightings in the letterbox, ESPECIALLY 'fly-by' seabirds.
Saturday, 4 August 2012
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The Rally Van takes the lead with 1100 points as we go for the distillery combo. This isn't in the rally pack but we don't care as long as we get bourbon.
The Rally Van takes the lead with 1100 points as we go for the distillery combo. This isn't in the rally pack but we don't care as long as we get bourbon.
Butt Lite IX sold out in hours. Then a fairly long waiting list was born. Based on our past rallies, we expected an attrition rate of about 20%. And then a strange thing happened.
Hardly anyone dropped out. There was the initial spattering of "I'm out, you're in". But then it was eerily quiet. After we opened up for a few 2019 Iron Butt Rookies and absorbed the rest of our waiting list, we had reached an all time high number of riders on the roster.
And then last week the flood gates opened. I could barely keep up with the withdrawals. And it wasn't just the riders, we were losing a few volunteers too.
There were the typical reasons – work and family. As I've written previously, life happens and we can't always fit in a six day motorcycle rally that requires a few days tacked on to the front and maybe a couple tacked on the back.
But this rally has had a rather large number of rather strange reasons for people to drop out.
One rider had a mild heart attack. She is, thankfully, recovering well. Another had an accident on his way to the start and broke his collar bone. One volunteer was feeling ill as he made his way to Lexington and at the urging of his wife, stopped in an ER and found out he had pneumonia. But the winner, up to that point, was a volunteer who had to have a toe amputated! We thought it couldn't get any stranger than that.
But leave it to Butt Lite 7 winner, Josh Mountain, to out do them all. In typical Josh fashion, his reason for not making it to Lexington was totally over the top.
Apparently, he was bored in the week leading up to the start of Butt Lite so he decided to enter the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. And in his words, "I keep winning!" Who can say no to the chance of winning 8.8 million dollars? Winning Butt Lite gets you a really nice glass trophy (that you have to figure out how to get home without breaking) and an entry in the Iron Butt Rally. Frankly, I'd be playing poker too, if I was any good at it.
So Josh may not win Butt Lite this year but he wins the contest for best reason to miss the start. And his strategy to throw off his competitors in poker just validates the nick name he has earned in the long distance rallying world – Nut Job.
The Lahman's have arrived. The official start of Butt Lite is when the first riders show up. There is bourbon & butter cake to die for.
Well, here we are again. The ninth Butt Lite. The fourth put together by the team of Bakker, Erbes & Smith. I suppose sounding a bit like a law firm is apropos.
Just like the others before it, the planning for this rally began immediately following the last. And just like the others we have exchanged thousands of emails, traveled thousands of miles and written thousands of words to get us to this.
An event like few others. For our participants it is six days spent traversing parts unknown via a motorcycle for no other reason than to do it. For the winner there may be a bit of glory but only from the very few who follow such things. That person will be guaranteed a spot in the 2019 Iron Butt Rally. And there IS a nice trophy for the top 10 finishers. But we don't do this for any of that. We do it because we are Strange People in a Strange Land.
There is nothing else quite like riding a motorcycle for about 20 hours a day in every type of weather, on every type of road, in large cities and forgotten, empty small towns. This isn't a race. It is an exercise in strategy, planning and managing your skills and expectations. Not too many people think this is fun.
But we do. It's fun riding in it and it's fun planning it. That's why we keep doing it.
Because it's strange and many of our friends and family simply don't get it. And that makes us like it even more.
As of this writing we have 104 riders. Attrition has been slow in coming but recent weeks have seen an uptick. Life happens and sometimes walking away from it for seven or eight full days of total immersion in the task at hand is a luxury we can't always afford.
Each of the four Butt Lites that we've been rally masters have been very bitter-sweet. And this one will be too. The three of us are always, always aware of the big shoes we attempt to fill. Every bonus, every tweak of a rule, every detail, carries with it the memory of the man who brought us together. And he is always with us. Guiding us to places that some won't understand. Weaving humor, anger, and awe into every page of the rally book. We hope, as we always do, that this effort would make him proud.
So, if you will be watching us from your computer, make sure you follow this blog closely. All the good stuff will be here.
Thanks for joining us on our strange journey.
Butt Lite IX riders and staff will begin arriving at rally headquarters at the Marriott Griffin Gate in Lexington, Kentucky right around July 4th. The six-day rally begins at precisely 8:00am ET on Sunday, July 8th.
The riders will meet back together at the checkpoint in Maggie Valley, North Carolina mid-week for leg one scoring. Then they will be off again for leg two.
They'll return to Lexington no later than 8:00am on Saturday, July 14th.
Join us here for all the action. We'll be posting updates, stories, photos, videos, SPOT tracks and anything else we can think of before, during and after.
You don't want to miss a thing so click on the icon at the bottom of the screen so you'll get all the updates.


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The 2nd installment of our anxiety podcast series overlooking the process of recovering from anxiety or panic disorders.
In this episode myself and Drew talk about fear. The fact that, as real as the fear may feel during panic or high anxiety, you are not in any real danger.
Find the original article here: http://www.thatanxietyguy.com/dealing-with-anxiety-the-only-way-out-is-through/
If anyone would like to ask any questions for a future episodes of this Anxiety 101 Podcast series of videos, please leave them in the comments below.
If you like this Anxiety United video please click the LIKE button and hit SUBSCRIBE to hear more from us.
Anxiety United
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If you'd like to get in touch regarding anything youtube, anxiety or mental health related send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com
Remember, you're not alone when it comes to suffering with anxiety, don't ever be afraid to seek help. Mental Health issues are not a sign of weakness.
The 2nd installment of our anxiety podcast series overlooking the process of recovering from anxiety or panic disorders.
Hi. Good article. My cousin has Anxiety disorders few years ago. He took medication but i didn't see any recovery. I have a question, Is Xanax a replacement for therapy?
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- This event has passed.
Port Hedland – CPD Mand Resi RE AGENTS (3 Points) – Open Program
June 11, 2019 @ 1:30 pm - 4:30 pmFree
Aspire Performance Training is offering a 3 hour professional development workshop for Licensed Agents as part of the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety compulsory professional development.
What's In It For You?
- Opportunity to gain 3 CPD points
- Network with real estate practitioners
- Learn, question and challenge an experienced real estate facilitator
- Reflect on current practice and implement new strategies for working within the real estate industry.
Workshop Content (as per DMIRS guidelines)
Managing Risk in your agency:
- Part A: New family and domestic violence provisions in the Residential Tenancies Act 1987
- Part B: Business management practices for licensees, Including but not limited to:
- The role and function of the licensee and person in bona fide control in the agency.
- Overview of supervision and control provisions in the legislation, particularly with respect to trust accounting.
- Proactive compliance visits – purpose of the program, what licensees can expect from a visit to their agency?
Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety Registration Information
Each year, participants must obtain ten CPD points. Mandatory activities are paid for by the Department.
Participants are required to attend mandatory activities each year that are relevant to their licence/registration in order to obtain the three mandatory points required by the CPD program, with elective activities making up the rest of the required ten points. Aspire Performance Training will register these mandatory points through the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety and you will be issued a Statement of Attainment.
Sensitive Content
This training material contains content regarding family and domestic violence. This content represents a core component of the mandatory training material. It is possible that a participant may find this material to be emotionally triggering. If you suspect that specific material is likely to disturb you, or you find yourself feeling uncomfortable with the session content, please make the trainer aware of your response or remove yourself from the discussion as appropriate.


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A real treat for red wine drinkers! Our red duet wine gift contains both a smooth, ready-to-drink, medium-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon and an equally luscious ruby-red Merlot from a California Central Valley boutique winery. Both food-friendly wines, they will pair beautifully with any red meat or tomato-based dish.
Due to various state regulations, gift baskets containing beer or wine may NOT be shipped to the following states:
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Utah
Additional Information
|8 lbs
|16 x 10 x 6 in


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How to Remove Adware, Pop-up Ads, and Viruses from Android Phones
A shocking fact most people don't know about malware in the Google Play store is that in the last few years the number of applications infused with malware has quadrupled. This should come as no surprise seeing as cybercrime has increased drastically over the last few years and is surpassing even ordinary crime.
Android malware refers to the malware-spreading applications created by cybercriminals in a bid to steal the personal information of users. Sometimes this information is even sold to advertisers to be used in creating intrusive adverts.
It is essential that users scan their phones from time to time and get rid of any spyware, malware, or adware that may be monitoring their daily activities. This article reviews how to remove adware, popup ads, and viruses from your Android phone.
How to Get Rid of Malware from Your Android Phone
We have compressed the steps needed to get rid of malware from your phone into the following:
Uninstall All Harmful Applications from Your Phone
Usually, Android phones get infected with viruses from harmful applications that may have been installed unknowingly. This first step involves identifying and removing any and all harmful applications that may be on your phone:
Use a Specially Designed App to Remove Unwanted Applications
Malwarebytes is one of the most popular and widely used malware removal applications in the world. It can get rid of all kinds of malware including the malware that the other applications tend to miss.
Here is how to use Malwarebytes to clean up all forms of adware from your device:
Clean up the Leftover Files from Your Phone
The application to be used for this is the widely renowned CCleaner application. It is a free application that can help with ridding your device of junk files. To get started:
Remove all Spam Notifications
We all love our notifications, but these days, they are used by cybercriminals to trick unsuspecting Android users to subscribe to various push notifications from multiple sites. Subscribing to these push notifications means that unwanted adverts can be sent to the phone.
This section shows you how to get these sites from showing these adverts:


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13-08-19 08:02:00,
China's agriculture ministry warned in June that it found fall armyworms in 21 provinces, across 333,000 hectares of crops.
Fall armyworms (Spodoptera frugiperda) are a destructive garden pest that can destroy a variety of crops as well as grasses.
Chinese officials are worried about prevention and control measures of the pest might be failing, which could lead to crop losses this year.
Beijing warned fall armyworms could damage hundreds, if not thousands of hectares of crops, leading to possible food security issues for the country.
To counter the pest, China has requested farmers in the 21 provinces to use government-approved pesticides.
The "heart-devouring worm" – as locals call it – has spread almost 1,900 miles north since migrating from neighboring Myanmar earlier this year, now threatens 21 provinces and regions in China and could heavily impact the country's grain output.
In Yunnan, a province in southwestern China, the pest has already destroyed 86,000 hectares of corn, sugarcane, sorghum, and ginger crops.
Fall armyworm started to spread through Africa and Asia in 2016, these pests, which are moths, fly 60 miles per night, is very challenging for farmers and governments to exterminate.
The pests have strained small farmers, who produce at least 90% of the country's crop.
In hard-hit Yunnan, the local government has installed 3,500 monitoring sites at farms to observe the pests and agriculture conditions, the provincial agriculture bureau wrote to Reuters via email.
Sugarcane farmer Yan in Mengkang village said the only answer to the fall armyworm disaster is to spray crops with pesticide.
"You have to keep spraying chemicals. If you don't kill the worm, you will end up penniless," he said.
Some farmers have had a slow response to act, thus jeopardizing their crop yields during harvest time.
Hu Gao, a professor of insect ecology at Nanjing Agricultural University, said the pests have ruined crops in the country's south, but the outlook for corn production in the north wasn't affected as much.


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Traditionally, there has been a costume party at Campoamar each summer. However, this year nobody thought to organise such an event so young people took matters into their own hands. They used social networking sites to gather up to 20,000 young people to the beach, all in disguise and armed with carrier bags full of booze.
Even though this was an unofficial event, organised without permission from the town hall, there were local police, Guardia Civil, Red Cross etc on hand.
Luckily, the event passed by without major incident but it could have been different. There would have been many children there as well as young adults and of course there was always the risk of damage to private property not to mention the state of the beach afterwards.
The council say that there are other ways to have fun and will either close the event down or organise it properly. I am sure that many of the residents of the area would prefer it not to take place at all but faced with the power of the internet to organise such events, that is not going to happen.
Botellón, which translates to large bottle, is a popular summer event at weekends. Crowds of young people gather at predetermined places carrying bags full of spirits and mixers and stay until the early hours of the morning.
As you might imagine, these gatherings are neither popular with bars who lose out on trade nor with locals who have to put up with the noise and the stench of urine the following morning. Police have tried to break up these late night drinking sessions held in public places but of course, the party simply moves on as the young people use their mobile phones to reorganise themselves.
Here in Bigastro, La Pedrera seemed to be the favoured venue. The council now have chains across the entrance roads to the area at night to at least prevent the trail of cars going up there. Of course, that does not prevent the young people from walking up the road but then it is a fair hike from the town. Hopefully, they will find somewhere closer to the town, well away from our estate!


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Direct-energy energy return on investment and carbon cost shares for selected countries and the world 1960-2010
Donovan, Alyssa Kathleen
MetadataShow full item record
In this thesis I focus on EROI[subscript direct] and carbon cost shares supplemented to global energy cost shares. This thesis builds off the work done by Maxwell (2013) and King (2015-submitted) in analyzing the potential for contemporary energy sources and carbon expenditures to reach some threshold value that acts as a constraint towards continued global economic growth. I calculate two metrics EROI[subscript direct] and the carbon cost share from data for 44 countries and an associated 44-country 'global' aggregate for 1960-2010. I additionally calculate projected estimates for carbon cost shares for 2015-2050. I compare our results to historical EROI[subscript direct+indirect] values for global energy sources, historical values for global energy cost shares, and estimations for expenditures for risk-aversion climate payments and abatement policies. I argue (1) that recent history suggests an increasing importance of indirect inputs re: efficiency of energy and (2) that carbon costs are relevant to the discussion of economic growth thresholds and hold the potential for a significant fraction (~1-4%) of global GDP until 2050.


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Posted on October 31, 2017 in: Articles
By Owen Phelps, Ph.D.
Director, Yeshua Institute
Our church's feast on Nov. 1, All Saints Day, is one of my favorites. It reminds me that the church's leadership does not have a monopoly on designating saints – and doesn't want one.
Yes, of course the church's highest leadership, in this case the pope, reserves for himself the right to designate – canonize – official saints of the church who are held up around the world as models for us to imitate. And the pope's declaration comes only at the end of a formal process outlined in detail by church law.
Even so, up until the mid-1100s it was common for bishops to declare saints. And even after the papacy took over the task, saints named earlier by local bishops did not have their status rescinded.
More central to our observance of All Saints Day, there is no prohibition against common everyday Catholics like us developing our own coterie of personal saints – people who inspire us live according to Jesus' Two Great Commandments (Matt 22:35-40, Mk 12:28-34, Lk 10:25-28).
Most Catholics are drawn to veneration of particular canonized saints – and that's a good thing. I had a Protestant friend once ask me rhetorically: "Why did we move away from saints? What were we thinking? You Catholics have a saint for every vice and every virtue, persons who help you integrate your faith and life. I envy you for that."
But as I reminded him, every Christian is free to venerate saints – and without regard to whether or not they are canonized by the church.
In my own case, my list of saints is a mix of canonized and everyday folks. Of course, the Blessed Mother is worthy of singular devotion. And like a lot of other Catholics, St. Francis of Assisi warms my heart and inspires me in a special way. I could go on and on in this vein. Indeed, whenever I check out the lives of canonized saints, I'm inspired.
But my list of saints also includes my mother and my father, and my grandparents on both sides of my family. I would add a friend of mine, a Dominican missionary and all-around extraordinary man who died just a few years ago. Several of my mentors and friends make my list – some for their whole lives of God-centered love and service, some for one or a few particular gifts they had which inspire me to serve and sacrifice when I'd otherwise be content to live as a couch potato.
I should add that none of those on my list was perfect, without sin. But then neither was St. Peter or any of the other apostles or saints (excepting, by God's abundant grace, the Blessed Virgin). Indeed, some of the most moving and inspiring saints – take St. Paul or St. Augustine, for example – were notorious sinners before they allowed themselves to be transformed by the grace of God.
That gives me more than a little comfort.
My personal list of saints includes a lot of people who needed at least some forgiveness along the way – sometimes even from me.
But today, on All Saints Day, I don't dwell on their shortcomings. I focus on their virtues.
In the Gospel for today we hear Jesus list the Beatitudes (Matt 5:1-12A). Today would be a good day to take just a moment and go through them yourself – trying to match the names of people you have known to each of them.
It's not essential that you come up with a name for each of them. If you can't think of a name of someone you would describe as "poor in spirit," move on. (BTW, we now know that St. Mother Teresa was "poor in spirit" for many years, so use her name if you can't think of any others.)
As you go through the list, people who have been good influences in your life will come back into your experience.
Who do you know who had reason to mourn but nevertheless inspired you? Who do you know who was meek but who comforted you? Do you know anyone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness? Who makes you grateful for their mercy? The list goes on.
By taking a few minutes to contemplate the Beatitudes and people we know or have known who lived them, we'll give ourselves a few benefits.
Who knows, by accepting little graces like these in our lives, perhaps a Nov. 1 will come to pass when someone puts our name on their own list of personal saints.
It could happen.
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Mail: 208 E North St., Durand, IL 61024
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Arrange for a Program or a Speaker


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images from the RSPB website
Drifting in and out of light sleep I woke up this morning at about 4.45 to a scratching noise outside the window. Looking through the curtains I caught eye of something moving very swiftly into the undergrowth. Whatever it was, it was having a happy old time romping through my clump of Cerastium - Snow in Summer!
It took about a minute or so before discovering it was infact a ... very fat hedgehog!
I've only ever seen one other in the ten years we've been here. It's now hedgehog breeding season, so it would be lovely to think it may be an expectant mother. How great it would be to have a family of hoglets in the garden!
It had a good nose around, before disappearing out of sight.
I then sensed movement on the garden steps. It was only a fox, the one with the bent tail, the same one I'd spooked in the garden early morning a few days earlier.
After having a sniffle around, it too disappeared into the undergrowth. On this occasion no calling card was left!
It's good to know, that whilst us two are sound asleep, these two are paying a visit to our garden.
Posted by this is my patch at 07:14
Labels: wildlife
2 comments:
Lucky you seeing two lovely creatures like these, especially the hedgehog! Here's hoping that they do stay in your garden as that would be such a delightful privilage for you. Flighty xx
- 2 June 2010 at 17:26
- harmony and rosie said...
We have a fox who regularly visits us in London and lies around for hours, sometimes on our trampoline! As for hedgehogs, I haven't seen one in years (that isn't a flat one) - we regularly search our log pile and even left hedgehog food out one night, only it was munched fairly swiftly by next door's cat!!! How exciting if you do get a little family of them in the garden. x
- 4 June 2010 at 08:11
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Eva Corley
Council District 3
Councilwoman Corley was raised in the West Metro area and her husband, Brandon, is a Cayce native. When Corley's daughter grows up, she will be the fifth generation of Corley's family to attend Brookland-Cayce High School.
At 25 years old, Councilwoman Corley was the second youngest candidate to ever run for office in South Carolina and the second youngest ever elected to Council. Aside from taking care of people as a member of Council, Corley has worked for 7 years as a registered nurse at Palmetto Health.
She is deeply involved with a range of Cayce's sights and organizations. Among them, she serves on the Cayce Public Safety Foundation, where she is involved in planning the group's annual fundraisers. Corley and her family can also usually be found at one of the Cayce parks and playgrounds.
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NewsLanc requested an interview with John Fry, President of Franklin & Marshall College.
Media Relations Director Dulcey Antonucci replied to reporter Matt Henderson that F & M would deny an interview because they feel that NewsLanc "lacks journalistic ethics."
Fry claims Field was unfair to Berwood Yost in the interview about Yost's street car survey. According to Antonucci, Yost claimed that it turned into a shouting match and that it was not a professional interview. (Yost felt the line of questions wasn't cordial, apparently because of the well researched and probing questions.)
Antonucci also complained on behalf of Fry that NewsLanc does not publish the names of letter writers and she said that is "suspicious."
When advised, Publisher Robert Field expressed gratitude that Fry didn't have F & M security guards mug Field on Field's front lawn across from the Fry residence as they had reportedly done to Lancaster Post Co-Publisher Ron Harper .
Field opined that "Bullies usually don't want to engage with reporters they cannot intimidate."
Field added that if F & M continues to refer to him as "Bob", NewsLanc would begin referring to Fry as "Johnny."


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When planning a vacation to China, Yangzhou can be a good choice to include in your travel itinerary. Wen Chang Ge, Ge Garden and He Garden, Slender West Lake Park are few of the tourist attractions that one can cover during their tour to China. Travel planning to this city also includes a visit to some famous places near to Yangzhou. Book from approximate 11 hotels in Yangzhou and read traveller reviews of tourist attractions & hotels before planning a holiday. Yangzhou trip planner that helps travelers select the perfect places to visit, sights to cover, things to do and hotels when visiting the city. Yangzhou travel planning made easy with JustOrbit.
Yangzhou is famous for & as:Museums, Leisure
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from USD 46.44
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Many cities are accessible from Yangzhou. We have selected the most popular tourist cities that you can visit after Yangzhou. Based on number of days in hand for vacation these cities have been listed and can be added to your travel itinerary by selecting "Add to Trip" displayed on the right of each city name.


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It's Your Time to Shine!
Receive 50% off when you purchase 2 or more full-price items!
Our C&B Stylists are excited to make you look and feel fabulous in all the new fashion for all your upcoming gatherings.
*See store associate for details. Christopher and Banks reserves the right to change or withdraw the offer at any time without prior notice.
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Exams are almost over. The weather is on the turn. June is a time to relax and read…but also to get out and about to some of the fascinating literary events taking place in the North East this month, as featured in our monthly English Events listing.
On an appropriately bright note, there's a chance to celebrate 150 years of Alice in Wonderland with a talk at the Laing Gallery to accompany its new exhibition. Also delighting in the power of the imagination, a one day conference on Converging Worlds looks at the interaction between real and fictional cultures.
Elsewhere, it's less bodies on the beach than bodies in the past. On 9th a symposium in Newcastle takes us back to the First World War, and a time of otherness and strange meetings. On 11th there is New Writing North's Crime Story, a festival for crime writers that gives a unique insight into real-life police investigation. And on 18th June an interdisciplinary conference looks at pseudosciences of the body in the nineteenth century.
This is just a small snapshot of what's on in the North East this month. Head over to our full listing for more, or keep in touch with us on Twitter or Facebook for reminders and additional events.


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Summer can mean allergies
May 27, 2018
Summer is here and allergies are no fun. Dictionary.com states that allergies are a damaging immune response by the body to a substance, especially pollen, fur, food, or dust to which the body has become hypersensitive.
"Allergies are when your immune system reacts (hyper actively) to foreign material," biology teacher Ramon Benavides said. "The most common are "seasonal allergies" which relate to pollen. These usually occur in the spring,"
Seasonal allergies can be frustrating and keep sufferers from enjoying outside activities. There are many ways to keep allergies at bay.
"Avoid activities that expose you to the allergens (foreign material) that trigger allergic reaction," Benavides said.
Keep windows closed to prevent pollen and dust from coming in. While one is outside tiny particles attach to shoes, hair, clothes and skin. Shower and change clothes as soon as possible. Wear a mask. It can keep some allergens such as dust from going into the airway. For more information on naturally allergies relief, read more on https://www.webmd.com/
"Taking antihistamines can help too. Histamines are chemical markers that trigger an inflammatory response, such as hives or sinus inflammation," Benavides said.
Always visit a doctor before taking any medication for help with an allergen free summer.


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I am extremely pleased to announce that after months of behind the scenes work Dan's Discount Tools finally has a website.
As a family-owned and run business, we have been selling discounted cutting tools on eBay for fifteen years. However, it was time to evolve and expand. Dan's Discount Tools will continue selling end mills, carbide inserts, taps and more on eBay, but now machinists can find their favorite discounted cutting tools on our website. We have worked tirelessly to create a "big box" search filter that will make finding tools machinists need easier. The narrowing filter will make your buying experience more enjoyable. My hope is to also save you time.
Please note, we will continue to provide free fast shipping on eBay and our website. I look forward to hearing your feedback. We are committed to making our website the best possible resource possible for all machinists of all skill levels and experiences. If you are a machinist, please do not hesitate to reach out if you have a suggestion or need help finding tooling.
Discounted Cutting Tools: 15 Years Later
Thank you for your years of support, my family and I greatly appreciate it. We sent everyone on our mailing list an email with a discount code. This code can be applied to your next purchase. Please sign up if you have not done so already. I will send semi-regular notifications of future discounts and giveaways.
I truly believe that "together we can succeed." If you did not receive a discount code because you are not subscribed to our mailing list, you can use the following discount code at checkout to save on your cart total: DDT10


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Paul Reiser is wooing his onetime Mad About You costar Lisa Kudrow to make a guest appearance in a comedy pilot he's producing for NBC. The potential series, My 11:30, stars Jeff Goldblum as a playboy New York businessman who seeks help from a no-nonsense female shrink, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In related news, Kudrow's Friends bud David Schwimmer has signed on to direct and executive produce the Peacock comedy pilot Nevermind Nirvana, which centers on an East Indian guy and his white fiancée.
(Disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.)


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The Pretty and the Plain - great Easter song
Fly Away
Save Me
Your Hands - this one I have loved for some time
Grow - no link to this one
|The Hub: Life, Career, Hobbies
Happy Easter! Some More Songs
I bought one of J.J. Heller's albums and have been loving it. Here's some of my favorites that I've been listening to non-stop.
The Pretty and the Plain - great Easter song
Fly Away
Save Me
Your Hands - this one I have loved for some time
Grow - no link to this one
Songs on my Mind
I've never praised the Lord harder in my life than right now. I have no idea why He's blessing me so much. I feel incredibly undeserving. If He never did anything more for me the rest of my life or answered another prayer, I'd still not be able to praise Him enough for all He's done in this year. I cannot explain how amazing it is to see first hand on not just one but dozens upon dozens of times, His hand directly working.
You know what? Everything is going to be ok, in grad school. He's got my back. It's true. I can trust Him, and don't have to worry about anything. I feel like I've gone to another level of trust. It's a wonderful feeling. I'm just starting to learn what it really means to depend on Him for *everything* - all I do, I say, I think, my next breath and everything and anything that ever happens to me. He really does work in the bad and turns it to good. He doesn't leave us in darkness. He blesses without stint. He has plans that are better than mine for me. I know that whatever I face, even if it's bad, He'll do something great with it. I cannot wait to see what He's going to do! I'm depending on Him for good ideas in grad school - for everything. May He move as He wills. I've never been more free and full of joy than now.
My theme song of late: Promises, New Life Worship
Somewhere Over the Rainbow, IZ - for some reason, I've been loving this song of late, ever since the Emory visitation weekend. Sometimes, dreams really do come true.
You, Hillsong United
Celebrate, Ricardo Unmerited
Salvador, Find the Reason
Remind Me Who I am, Jason Gray
You Found Me, Big Daddy Weave
This is the blog for what God has been teaching me, prayer adventures, quotes from men of faith, spiritual books, songs and detailing the amazing roller coaster ride adventure as I live with Him! I reserve the right to be wrong. I am always learning.
February 2017


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The tall, straight trees that dot the landscape of German towns and cities speak volumes of their undying enthusiasm for all things neat, clean and minimal. The no fuss approach of the Germans comes through in this home – a study in fusion where the love for straight lines comes together with touches of luxury. The predominantly white villa exudes a charm that makes one fall in love with the modern school of design. Solid wood and stone are combined with glass to give a neat look like none other. Villa U is a German home designed and built by C FMoller Architects in Aarhus, Germany.
The fun is in the straight lines. The typical Germanic façade of the villa is made up of geometric structures. While not as flamboyant as its Dutch neighbour, it still relies on a subtle play of style where the floors are piled on to each other in opposing alignment, for minimalist elegance. Devoid of the usual slanting roof, this home brings in straight terraces and rooftops. Recessed lighting makes for a soft glow in the porch as well.
The far end of the roof's top corner suddenly juts out into the horizon, giving the villa a playful appeal. The wooden panels caress the space formed by this sudden spear. Glass panels in proud wooden frames hold the structure in row upon row of sleek transparency while soft recessed lighting holds the look aloft in an elegant glow. The back yard is a lush untouched expanse of green with a simple stone path leading up to the picnic furniture casually laid out on a concrete patch.
The kitchen oozes style with running oak cabinets that conceal all the crockery and appliances. The icing on the cake is the nook created for the stove and range – a neat space that has a bank of drawers underneath. The island houses the sink and is replete with dark wood highlights that outline all the cabinetry in the kitchen. Overhead industrial style lamps complete the chic factor here!
Warm yourself next to the uber stylish fireplace, done up entirely with black, slate coloured and grey metro tiles. The randomly patterned tiles offer a break from the stark whiteness of the entire villa. It also greets you as soon as you enter the home. The fireplace sits right next to the stairs and gives the high ceiling a focal point by jutting right into it. The sliced off edge gives it a chic look and carries on the running geometric theme of the home.
The TV is secured to the wall that clads the partly glass staircase. The slightly spiral staircase lets one of its stairs jut out slightly so that it becomes a low table of sorts for the ultra modern sculpture and other curios to rest on. Sitting on the stairs and enjoying the fireplace and the TV seem to be an ideal, fuss-free option for evenings spent in this home. That, or just a good book and a few cushions to sit on the stairs, propped up against the solid wooden divider that sets the kitchen and dining area to a side.
Long walks around the property can tempt visitors easily from the very first glance at the home. The stone pathways and unhindered expanse of green manicured goodness for a lawn leave the senses rejuvenated. Colourful foliage dots the grounds and adds pops of colour to the brick walls and glass façade.
This home exudes a minimalist charm that makes it comfortable and stylish at the same time. The white walls, the brick detailing and clear panels of glass come together for a look that speaks of good design. In conclusion, the geometric shaped home is a complete winner in the style department!
To find more about German Designer homes, read homify 360°: unexpected luxury in Viersen, Germany


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Execute the development of a new service line requiring complex coordination between eight clinical departments to bring life-changing technology to patients.
Machine Learning and Demand Forecasting Reduce Neurology Patient Wait Times
Optimize patient access to Neurology services by evaluating appointment types and volumes to forecast demand by each subspecialty.
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Reduce call abandonment rate and staff work queues dramatically by assessing and improving
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Serial Killer Albert Fish's Savage Life
Hamilton Howard "Albert Fish" had many other names: the Gray Man, the Brooklyn Vampire, the Werewolf of Wysteria, the Boogey Man, and the Moon Maniac. To say that he was a bad person is an understatement. When captured, he admitted to molesting more than 400 children and torturing and killing several others. Although the truthfulness of that statement isn't known, he is definitely known for being an incredibly vile pedophile, child serial killer and cannibal.
One of the worst of all time.
But he could easily pass off as the kindest, most trusting, gentle-looking man. And that's probably what made him incredibly effective in his heinous crimes. Only when alone with his victim did he unleash the monster within. Fortunately, he was executed for his unbelievably sadistic crimes. And rumors have it that he turned his own execution into a fantasy of pleasure.
Here's how it all started.
A Foundation of Insanity
On May 19, 1870, Ellen Fish gave birth to a baby boy in Washington D.C. Ellen and her husband, Randall, called the baby Albert Fish. And this was the start of Albert's twisted destiny. Fish's family was deeply affected by mental illness. Apart from Ellen Fish, his mother, experiencing visual hallucination, Albert's brother was confined to a mental state institution. His sister wasn't spared either. She was diagnosed with "mental affliction."
Such mental illness went further than Albert's direct family. Albert's uncle was diagnosed with mania, and three other relatives had a mental illness. At a young age, Albert ended up in an orphanage.
His parents had abandoned him.
As Fish recalled, the orphanage wasn't any better. There, he suffered regular beatings and sadistic brutality. But, instead of crushing his spirit, it's said that he found pleasure in it and even begun looking forward to it. In his own words, the orphanage initiated him into the wrong path his life took.
He was barely nine years of age and went through unending merciless whipping. And, remember, he wasn't the only one. Many other boys went through similar torment. Ellen Fish only managed to remove her son at 12 years of age. The year was 1880. She was widowed but now had a government job. However, the damage had already been done. Albert had a minimal formal education. He grew up preferring manual labor to intellectual pursuits. And he soon began a relationship with a boy who taught him to drink urine and eat feces.
The Start of Albert Fish's Crimes against Children
According to Albert Fish, his crimes against children started when he relocated to New York City in 1890. He molested boys while working as a prostitute. He lured the innocent boys from their homes and tortured them in multiple ways. His favorite torture technique was using a paddle laced with sharp nails. Then he would rape them.
That's only the start. His sexual fantasies grew more fiendish with time. His evil ways became so bizarre that he didn't just stop at murdering his victims. He also cannibalized those kids.
Albert Fish: A Husband and Father
Being an evil, murderous child predator didn't stop Albert Fish from marrying and fathering children.
In 1898 Albert married. He also fathered six children. Strangely enough, his children led normal lives. Well, that's until 1917. Fish's wife took off with another man, and he took the liberty to abuse his own children. According to his children, he occasionally got them involved in his sadomasochism.
He asked them to use the nail-filled paddle on him. They would paddle him until blood ran down his legs. He also requested them to push needles deep into his skin. All for his sadomasochistic enjoyment. But he hadn't given up on his love life yet. He wrote to women listed in personal columns of newspapers. However, those weren't the normal kind of love letters you would expect. Instead, he detailed vile sexual acts he wished to share with those women.
Apparently, the sexual acts were so disgusting that they were never made public despite being submitted as evidence in court. According to Fish, no one ever responded to his letters.
Fish's Criminal Operations
Fish developed a second occupation in house painting. He worked across different states, and mainly targeted African American communities. He believed the police wouldn't search for African American children as much as prominent Caucasian children. In 1928, he answered an ad by Edward Budd, an 18-year-old looking for part-time work.
Introducing himself as Mr. Frank Howard, a Long Island farmer, he promised Edward a job paying $15 per week. During Fish's interaction with Edward's family, he built so much trust that the Budd's had no problem letting Fish take their ten-year-old daughter, Grace, to a children's birthday party.
That was the last the Budd's would see of Grace Budd.
The End of Fish's Criminal Career
Eventually, Fish's crime against Grace Budd would lead to his downfall. However, it took six years for detectives to break the case. And that only happened when Fish wrote a letter anonymously to Grace Budd's mother. The murderous criminal detailed his gruesome torture of the little girl. This letter gave the detectives a trail to Albert Fish's flophouse.
The hardened criminal wasn't even remorseful when arrested. He smiled, describing the torture he put his victims through. He confessed to killing not just Grace Budd, but also hundreds of other children.
But that changed in court. During his trial, Fish pleaded innocent because of insanity. He claimed voices in his head compelled him to kill children and execute such evil crimes as he did. Even multiple psychiatrists proclaimed fish to be insane.
But the jury declared him sane and found him guilty. The trial was short: 10 days. Albert Fish was electrocuted on January 16, 1936. Whether he considered this "the ultimate sexual thrill," based on rumors, or not, at least it put an end to his lengthy criminal life. At last mothers and fathers would have one less child predator to worry about.
Hopefully, orphanages will no longer become breeding grounds for future child predators.


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December 31st, 2018 9:53 AM by ERA Big Sun Realty
How to Prepare For a Home InspectionHome Inspection Preparation
How to prepare for a home inspection is a thought that more sellers should consider. Unfortunately many do not. One of the things that are quite common in the majority of all Real Estate transactions is a home inspection that is paid for by the buyer and performed by a licensed professional home inspector.
When selling Real Estate, a home inspection is typically done within the first couple weeks after an offer has been submitted by the buyer and accepted by the seller. The Real Estate lingo used is called a "home inspection contingency."
This contingency is spelled out in the agreed upon Real Estate contract. The common language in most purchase and sale agreements gives the buyer an out to terminate the contract if a severe structural or mechanical defects are found during the home inspection.
In some contracts, there will be a specified dollar amount that gives the buyer the option of revoking the contract if issues are discovered more than this agreed-upon figure.
In a Real Estate transaction, the home inspection is one of the biggest hurdles a home seller faces to have a successful sale. It stands to reason that you will want to make an effort to have your home in the best possible condition before the home inspection takes place.
I can tell you from the experience of being a Realtor for the past thirty-two years; the home inspection is where most home sales fall apart.
So how do you adequately prepare for a home inspection? It may seem pretty obvious, but making sure your home is in tip-top showing condition is often overlooked before an inspection.
A home inspector is not necessarily looking at your mess, but an unkempt home will give the impression of uncaring owners who possible may miss regular maintenance of items that shouldn't be neglected.
Every home seller should keep in mind that the home inspection almost always becomes a second round of negotiations, especially when it is a buyer's Real Estate market.
The buyer may ask you to fix a long list of defects that are discovered, provide them with a credit to deal with the issues, or in a worse case just back out of the agreement altogether.
So what you should do to prepare for a home inspection is to eliminate any of the known defects that are clearly visible before the home going on the market! Home sale preparation is one of the keys to selling Real Estate today anyways, so getting your home ready for the inspection only makes sense.
One suggestion to make the home inspection go more smoothly is to make it easier for the home inspector to do his job. A couple of simple things that you can do is to make sure the inspector can access the attic and the entire basement.
Often I have been at inspections where the attic hatch is located in a closet and is blocked by clothes or other items. In a basement, you will want to make sure the inspector can see all and move around near all the exterior walls.
A clear path around all the mechanical items, including the furnace, water heater, and electrical panel will be necessities as well. These are easy and simple tips you can do to get ready for a home inspection.
Below you will find some of the best home inspection remedies before listing your home for sale. I will discuss a few more home inspection preparation items a bit later.
Some sellers don't want to spend the money but getting a pre-sale home inspection could save you a lot of heartaches. Lots of transactions fall apart because of a lousy inspection that spooks buyers. By inspecting before putting your home on the market, you can discover if there could be any significant deal breakers.
If you don't feel doing a pre-sale inspection is necessary at least be aware of the common issues that come up frequently in inspections. Do you best to remedy them before the inspection takes place.
Common Defects Found at Home Inspections
One of the best ways to prepare for a buyers home inspection is to understand what some of the most probable defects the home inspector is likely to find. There are some common defects that are found in many homes, that as a homeowner you may not have even paid much attention to. After living in a house for many years sometimes we get used to things being a certain way.
Sometimes it would not even cross our minds that a small defect may be a bigger issue to someone else. I am going to review some of the more evident and commonplace defects that I have seen at home inspections over the years.
With this knowledge in hand at least, you will have the opportunity to make some corrections before your home goes on the market. These vital home inspection preparation tips can go a long way in keeping your real estate transaction moving along smoothly.
Ceiling Stains – one of the things in homes that troubles home buyers more than anything else is the fear of water. Nobody wants to have a water issue in their home. Over the years I have sold thousands of homes, and the vast majority of them have had some form of a ceiling stain. In many instances, the stain occurred from something innocuous like a toilet overflowing or one of the kids leaving the shower curtain open.
Buyers, however, may not assume it is something so simple. In other cases, a ceiling stain could have been caused by an ice dam. The trick of course from the buyer's perspective is to find out if the ice damming is going to occur over and over again from a roofing or gutter defect.
In some instances, it may be a rare occurrence where there was a twenty-five-year storm. In any event, you will want to make sure the ceiling stains are removed.
Electrical violations – Electrical issues are most common in homes where Mr. home owner has decided to make improvements on his own and has not hired an electrician. Often work is not done to code which creates issues. Some of the other more prevalent problems include lack of GFI outlets (Ground Fault Interrupter) if the kitchen and baths.
These are outlets designed to eliminate the possibility of electrocution if water comes in contact with electricity. Double tapped electrical breakers are another example. A double tap is when a breaker in the electrical panel has more than one wire creating a hazard from too much current going through one breaker. Non-grounded outlets are another defect you commonly see along with a whole host of others.
Improper bathroom venting – years ago almost every home that had some kind of a bath fan just dumped the exhaust into the attic. Over the years it was discovered that doing this provided the perfect breeding ground for mold in attics. This makes perfect sense as you a dumping a ton of moisture into a less ventilated space. The thought of mold can easily cause a buyer not to want to proceed with purchasing a home.
Building codes have since changed, and in most homes built today, it is required that a bath fan vent to the exterior of a house most often through the roof. A word of advice….check your attic for mold if you have not been up there for a while. I have found that when an inspector discovers mold most of the time, the owner never knew it was there.
Rotted exterior wood – Most of the time rotted wood is due to lack of maintenance, i.e., waiting too long to paint your home. When uncovered wood is wet for too long, it tends to rot. The most common areas include exterior trim, window trim, and regions around decks. While rotted wood can occur in any home, many of the homes built in the 1980's used "finger jointed" woodwork which was an inferior product.
Minor plumbing defects – It is very rare not to find some kind of small plumbing defect. The good news on this one is that they are usually very easy to fix. Some of the more common problems include dripping faucets, loose toilets, and slow or leaky drains. Some of the other nuisance issues that are brought to light by home inspectors are leaky valves on boilers and water heaters.
Most of the time these are not big issues but routine maintenance that needs to be done by either a plumber or heating contractor.
Failed window seals – A failed window seal is something you see quite often in homes. The way you know a window seal has failed is when you look at a window fogging. This means the thermal seal between two panes of glass has leakage.
Most homes today are built with thermal pane windows (two panes). You see more homes that were built in the 80's that have this condition.
Chimney defects – the most common defects in chimneys are cracks and re-pointing or mortar. More often than not these are found at the very top of the chimney and have occurred over time due to the elements. More significant issues occur when larger cracks around found from the base of the chimney moving upward. This could indicate more of an unsafe structural issue.
Mold & Radon Remediation – Mold and radon are two of the biggest deal killers in real estate. Before a home inspection, you should check to make sure you have neither of these issues. Preferably you should check before your home even goes on the market.
Mold is something that you can not be sure of unless it is tested by someone in the mold industry. You can, however, reasonably identify what could be mold. Most of the time in homes it will be a black substance that is on the walls or ceilings. The most common places to find mold are attics, basements, and baths.
Radon is a gas found under the ground that enters the home through cracks in your concrete or dirt floor. It is a known carcinogen and something that most buyers are very cognoscente of. While there are no federal laws in place regarding radon removal, most buyer's will request you to remediate it if it is found to be higher than the suggest passing limit which is 4.0 pCi/L (picocuries per liter).
Removing radon in the air is relatively easy to do. When it becomes, a much more substantial expense is having to remove radon from water.
Disclosure or Fixing Items Prior to Sale
Obviously, if you have the money to repair the common home inspection defects mentioned above, it would make sense take it upon yourself to make sure you do! If money is tight, however, I am going to make a suggestion that I do for all of my Real Estate clients.
You should fill out a Real Estate disclosure form and have it available for a buyer to see prior to them making an offer. In this disclosure, you are going to want to list in detail all the defects you know about your home. In many states filling out a seller's disclosure form is mandatory anyways. In Massachusetts, it is not but prevalent none the less.
It is far more difficult for a buyer to try to renegotiate after a home inspection if the defect has already been pointed out to them in black and white before making an offer.
For a seller that may not be sure how to identify potential home inspection issues, one suggestion would be to get an independent home sale inspection before going on the market and fixing what is recognized by the home inspector.
This will at least give you some piece of mind that most everything that could potentially be raised as an issue will already have been discovered and possibly remedied. Are you beginning to see why preparing for a home inspection is a common sense activity that every seller should consider?
Prepare For The Home Inspector
One of the things that you should be aware of as a home seller is that most home inspectors will arrive at your home in advance of the scheduled home inspection time. Typically the inspector will come anywhere from a half hour to forty-five minutes ahead of time.
A home inspector will do this, so they have the opportunity to walk around your home making observations about the property in advance of the buyer arriving. This will give the home inspector a leg up on looking professional once the buyer gets there and starts asking questions.
It is a common practice in real estate for the seller not to be around while the home inspection is taking place. There are, however, things you can do to make the home inspectors job a lot easier before you leave your home. Here are a few quick tips to prepare for a home inspection.
Above all else do not try to conceal any defects you know are present in the home. The home inspector is going to find the issue anyway. Trying to conceal issues will throw up a major red flag. The last thing you want is to have a buyer think you are dishonest.
All this will do is leave a bad taste in the buyer's mouth and put you behind the eight ball when the home inspection negotiation process begins.
Hopefully, by now you have realized preparing for a home inspection is a vital part of a real estate transaction and one of the keys to keeping your sale on track!


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Quintero's life sentence shocks victim's family
One juror said Juan Leonardo Quintero's life still has value.
Another said a convicted cop killer, even one in the country illegally, deserves mercy.
Neither sentiment offered much consolation to family members of murdered Houston police officer Rodney Johnson, who were stunned Tuesday when a jury spared Quintero and sent him to prison for life with no chance of parole.
Asked by state District Judge Joan Campbell if he had anything to say before he was sentenced, the 34-year-old Quintero replied, "I'm sorry."
Johnson arrested the landscaper from Mexico during a Sept. 21, 2006, traffic stop. The 12-year police veteran didn't notice Quintero was hiding a gun, which, while handcuffed in the patrol car's back seat, he used to shoot Johnson seven times.
Quintero's lawyers had argued unsuccessfully that he was criminally insane and incapable of knowing his actions were wrong.
"I believe he has value," said juror Letty Burkholder, of Houston. "He's loved by many of his family and friends, and that was number one. I felt like he has potential."
The decision shocked Johnson's family. His sister collapsed in the lobby of the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, his mother-in-law shouted in the street. Johnson's widow sobbed in disbelief.
"My husband's life meant nothing — that's what I felt," said Joslyn Johnson, also an HPD officer.
"If any case ever warranted the death penalty, this certainly did," she said. "The city lost a hero. I lost my husband."
In front of the courthouse, her mother blasted the jury's decision.
"We wanted the death penalty," Lorraine Crawford said. "He's not sorry. He would do it again."
'Not a life without value'The decision came in the second day of deliberations for the jury, which convicted Quintero of capital murder on May 8. His defense team praised jurors for careful consideration of "all of the evidence."
"This is not a life without value," defense attorney Danalynn Recer said later. She also said a life sentence would help both families because it ends the case, rather than subjecting them to years of appeals.
She said Quintero's remorse, mental health and family relationships were mitigating factors with jurors, who discussed the case with her afterward.
Assistant District Attorney Denise Bradley called it a sad day for law officers.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Bradley said she was disappointed with the verdict but respected it.
"We take solace in the fact that Mr. Quintero will spend the rest of his life behind bars," fellow prosecutor John Jordan said.
Most of the jurors chose not to comment. One of two who spoke to reporters agreed that Quintero deserves to live. She said there were sufficient mitigating circumstances to opt for life in prison.
"I still feel we came to the right decision," said Tiffany Moore, a 38-year-old marketing director from Houston. "We could never bring Rodney back. I feel very sad for the family, losing a loved one."
She said she wept while Rodney Johnson's sister, Susan Johnson, read a victim impact statement after the verdict.
"You are a murderer, plain and simple," Johnson told Quintero while staring at him. She also belittled the defense team, accusing them of manipulating the system, especially with the insanity defense.
She later collapsed on the floor in tears as the family left the courthouse.
The officer's brother, David Johnson, wanted to see Quintero sentenced to death.
"He shot him four times in the back, three times in the head," Johnson said. "I can't believe that. What's mitigation?"
Previous DWI convictions
Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, shared the family's disappointment in the sentence.
"To say the least, we are shocked by the (sentence). We felt that the case met every criteria for a death penalty sentence," Blankinship said.
Quintero's relatives left the courtroom without commenting. His wife appeared to be weeping as family members shielded her with their arms as she left the room.
Jurors were told that Johnson searched Quintero before placing him in the car but missed a 9 mm pistol in his waistband.
Quintero was stopped while driving home after work with his two stepdaughters and a co-worker. He was drinking beer while driving a truck that belonged to his employer, landscaper Robert Lane Camp, testimony showed.
Camp has been indicted on federal charges of harboring an illegal immigrant. Johnson's family also has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Camp and his company. Camp and his attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Jurors began deliberating at noon Monday and were sequestered overnight.
In arguing for the death penalty, prosecutors pointed out that Quintero had several DWI convictions and was deported after pleading guilty to indecency with a 12-year-old girl in 1999.
The jury did not hear any details of that crime.
What prison life will hold
Quintero's first stop will be Huntsville's Byrd Unit, where his criminal history, psychological makeup and work skills will be evaluated before he's shipped to his permanent maximum security home.
On the prison system's six-point classification scale — ranging from G1 trusties to administrative segregation, the worst of the worst — the killer will be classified as a G3. As such, he will be required to work but will be strictly limited in where he can work.
Never will he be allowed to work off-prison — in a prison farm field, for instance — except under armed guard. While his work assignment is contingent on Byrd Unit findings, such inmates typically start off as field hands. They are required to rise at 4 a.m. and work through midafternoon.
Quintero will be housed with other G3 offenders in a cellblock or prison dormitory within the main building.
He will be allowed four hours of group recreation Mondays through Fridays, and seven hours on Saturday and Sunday.
He will be allowed weekend visits from his family and others on a 10-person visitation list, said prisons spokesman Jason Clark. Quintero will be eligible to participate in prison education programs. Recreation and other privileges can be reduced if he violates prison rules.
Chronicle reporters Allan Turner and Rosanna Ruiz contributed..


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2 Material:
Current Material selection: Ash with charcoal stain
Made for you
Current Selections
Lennox 48w 17d 72h Open-Back Bookcase
material: Ash with charcoal stain
Item No: 939824
Our Lennox storage collection has a clean modern style that's complemented by the timeless beauty of sustainably sourced U.S. wood. Deep bevels and thick edges come together to form a contemporary piece with staying power. Perfect for living rooms, bedrooms, entryways or offices, this straightforward bookcase will be an enduring part of your home.See the full Lennox collection
Details of Lennox 48w 17d 72h Open-Back Bookcase
Material Details
- Dimensions: 48"w 17"d 72"h
- Open Space: (2) 21.75"w 15.25"d 27"h; (2) 21.75"w 15.25"d 40.5"h
- Case Construction: benchmade solid wood and wood veneer or low-emission MDF; finished all sides
- Shelves: six adjustable wood; two fixed wood
- Includes: anti-tip safety hardware
- Installation: not provided by Room & Board; professional installation recommended
- Product Origin: made in North Dakota
- Material Origin: United States and imported
- Item Number: 939824
- See all photos
Material Details
- Material: ash
- Color: charcoal
- Finish: lacquer
- Material Description: Our ash with charcoal stain features a hand-applied stain over solid, domestically sourced ash. Because ash has such sweeping, varied grain patterns, its integrity and unique look still show through and are enhanced by the deep charcoal stain. The charcoal color was designed to easily mix with other woods and materials in your home. Ash is a durable, timeless hardwood that brings true character to your home.
- Material: ash
- Color: charcoal
- Finish: lacquer