Golf Brag

Doreeen and I just got off the golf course (I played 18 this morning as well.) Doreen has been playing like a fiend, consistently in the mid 40s. She shot a 45  today which could have easily been much lower with a few kinder putts (her putting is also improving.) Her driving in consistently good and straight.


I have been far more erratic even if I golf practically every day. When we got down here I found to my dismay I was about 20 yards shorter with each club and couldn't hit any of them straight, which I have prided myself in. Fortunately the length has come back and I'm getting a bit straighter. With Doreen as my caddy and scorer one day I shot a 33 on one of the 9's, which is a low; mums the word on highs. Today when we played I got my first eagle on the last hole. O happy day...

I'm writing this in green for the all the envious frozen golfers up north.

Introducing Marj

Some of you may know who our new family member Marj Kammueller is and some not. When I became the interim at St John's in Fountain City, Marj was the church secretary and I said, "Like it or not, you are my new best friend." Everyone knows church secretarys run churches, pastors are mere window dressing. Also, Marj knows everyone in Fountain City and all the towns around and they know her. Recently Marj and her sisters (she has a bunch of them) decided that Doreen was now their sister too. 
Marj is one of those delightful people who speaks her mind easily; and, more importantly has a mind from which to speak from (an English teacher outta love that sentence.) Marj and Doreen have coffee with each other at the underground coffeehouse in FC, they shop together, and exercise together among many other things; sometimes I'm allowed to go along (except for the exercising bit.) She will also becoming down to visit us here in Florida as she did when we were in Texas last winter. You're gonna love her.

Its snowing again in WI

Its doing it again! Of course, it is still January and to be expected.
I read the story of Black Swan last night so now I understand the movie
but certainly could not tell which part was supposed to represent reality
and which part was hallucination. Well acted though.

Family Trees

Following is a really simple family tree I threw together so my nieces and step children can have some references for each other. I think each of you can edit this and correct mistakes. If not, just email them to me and I correct them errors.


What also I think would be great is for everyone to just jot down a very simple bio of themselves for general information.

Alfred D. Drennan and Rena R. Hull

(s) William (Bill) Drennan & Nadine Tesene                      (

(d) Kathleen Drennan and Kelly Allen

(d) Aza Allen

(d) Isabela (Bella) Allen

(d) Heather Drennan and James Bowles

(s) Avery Drennan

(s) Finn Malcom Bowles

(s) Milo Hugh Drennan Bowles

(s) Hugh H. Drennan* & Doreen Mae Hebbe*

Hugh was originally married to Mary Ellen Peterson

Doreen originally married to James Rumpf

Maxwell Julian and Alice Marion Rumpf

(s) James Rumpf and Doreen Hebbe

(d) Anna Marie Rumpf and Dale Verne Febock

       (d) Kelly Rene Febock and Kent Richard Bindle                                                                                                                          

(d) Ella Ann Bindl

(s) Adam Richard Bindl

(d) Claire Bindo

       (d) Tara Lynn Febock 

       (d) Megan Marie Febock

(d) Sally Jo Rumpf

        (s) Sami James Boonahoom & Devon Bender

        (s) Stephen Jared Boonahoom

(s) James (Jay) S. Rumpf and Laurie Wagner

        (d) Melissa Nicole Rumpf

        (d) Jessica Ann Rumpf

Political/Religious Warning

It has often be said that we can talk about anything except politics and religion. I would hold that that is patently untrue. We can and should be talking about religion and politics as they are such a major importance in all our lives. What we believe pretty much sets who and what we are as individuals and groups. So,  not to talk about religion and politics is to remain ignorant about ourselves in most important areas.


What we do not need in the discussion of religion and politics is incivility and rancor, which, unfortunately, seems to be the typical tone of today's political and religion discussions and debates. The media seems to  encourage this inane and bellicose verbiage in an attempt to be news rather than report news. I rue the day that Roone Arledge, when he moved from the head of ABC sports to the head of ABC news and stated that no longer should the news department be a money loss leader but an income producer for TV stations. That may make short term economic sense but was a great loss to an more unbiased informed American. I miss Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkly, Howard K. Smith, and those of that ilk and era who took the reporting of the news as a moral responsibility to the welfare of the republic. Fox news and MSNBC would have been viewed with horror and driven off the air with their unfettered biases. [Is my old manism coming to the fore here? So be it.]


What I believe we need is much more discussion of politics and religion, one of which I have spent a professional career doing. It just needs to take place without meanness, mudslinging and a lack of thought and care for others. Soon I will be placing such an article here on this blog dealing with my sympathies with the Tea Party. I hope you read it and respond if you like.


It is always safe, or generally safe to talk about sports and the weather and such. It is good to talk about ourselves and our families. But we also need to engage in rational discussions of the wider issues of the day as well. Our country lacks such discussion and as a family I think we should do our bit. I know this is going to make Doreen nervous, but the she always was in a constant state of terror of what I was going to say in the pulpit as well.


Feel free to join in or not but know such things will be coming from yours truly. After all, I don't have a pulpit to speak of religious issues, and felt it unwise and unfair to discuss politics from the pulpit. But now I'm retired and don't have to worry about such stuff as much.

The family name Bock

A little more research revealed the following. We are also familiar with bock beer meaning dark beer or the dregs of the keg and the end of the brewing season. So perhaps Fe was the name of the billy goat they dropped into the keg after it had been mostly drained to finish off drinking the dregs. Just saying...

Last name: Bock

This famous surname recorded in several forms including Bock, Bockh, Bocke, Bockmann, Bockler, Pock and Boecke, is 13th century Old German. It has several possible meanings of which the most likely is that it is residential, and describes a person who lived by a beech wood, or possibly one who specialised in making products such as furniture out of beech. The second possibility is that in some cases it is a nickname for a male person who behaved like a "bock", otherwise a ram or billy goat! In the medieval period people were robust in their views, and they did not hesitate to supply sometimes very offensive nomenclature to other people. What is even more surprising is that these stuck, and that the recipients do not seem to have objected, and ultimately these nicknames became surnames in their own right. This is one of the earliest and most popular of German surnames, and one that has been recorded in other countries for many centuries. The earliest examples of the name recordings taken from authentic German charters of the medieval period include Ulrich Boch of Oberschwaben in the year 1241, and Walterus zuo dem Bock, the Spitalmeister (Hospital manager) of Schlettstadt in 1424. The first known recording of the surname in any spelling is probably that of Heinrich Boc of Ostrach, in the year 1209. This was during the reign of Emperor Otto 1V of the Holy Roman (German) Empire, 1198 - 1215.

Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Bock#ixzz1CRHSroZn

Hello from Wisconsin Winter Wonderland

Snowing in Wisconsin today, said that we were only to get 1" but there is more and the traffic is slow. Patients are checking in late today. All is well otherwise in Wisconsin. Temp was 16 degrees when I left for Madison this a.m. Are you missing this???

Trivia

Here I go--
I continue to have problems with this laptop. Maybe because my keyboard at home is lower. Soo --
The news this am is that g-grand Claire fell down the stairs yesterday and needed a trip to childrens hospital in Milwaukee. All seems to be OK and mom and child are ready for a nap. Poor Kelly, it was just three weeks ago that Ella fell and broke her arm. Kent says they will put Adam in a bubble. This all comes as K/K are planning their 10th ann vacation ,two years late.

Back to Palm Harbor. Yesterday we went to the beach and visited the cottage where 21 of us spent a wonderful week three years. ago. Great memories and I hope we can find a way to do it again.
We also played golf on Tue when the biggest storm of the year was coming ashore. Notice I know how to talk about the area. "Ashore." There was much damage in some areas but we were lucky and just played our afternoon games and had a cocktail.
Hugh played his first golf with the league, which I am sure you will hear more about. He also tried some genealogy investigation. Guess I'll have to try and look at the info I have.
I have found some good books in the amazing library here at the clubhouse.
Guess that's all for this am---golf ing this pm. Doreen

Febock History

Research on the Febock name turned out at first blush to be an entirely different story, with no background at all. Google tells me there is only 1 Anna Febock in the country and 2 Megans. Do any of you know of variations in spellings or other such goodies as long as we're putting in a little genealogical information on this blog?

Rumpf History

There appears to be a lot of information on the name Rumpf on the internet and lots of places where they will sell it to you. Here's some freebies:



The associated coat of arms for this name are recorded in J.B Rietstaps Armorial General. Illustrated by V & H.V Rolland's. This Monumental work took 23 years to complete and 85,000 coats of Arms are included in this work. This surname RUMPF was of the nickname group of names, literally meaning 'one with a large rump'. The name was derived from the Old English word RUMPE, and survives to this day in Norfolk. Surnames having a derivation from nicknames form the broadest and most miscellaneous class of surnames, encompassing many different types of origin. The most typical classes refer adjectivally to the general physical aspect of the person concerned, or to his character. Many nicknames refer to a man's size or height, while others make reference to a favoured article of clothing or style of dress. Many surnames derived from the names of animals and birds. In the Middle Ages ideas were held about the characters of other living creatures, based on observation, and these associations were reflected and reinforced by large bodies of folk tales featuring animals behaving as humans. Other spellings of the name include RUMPE, RUMPES and RUMPS. The earliest of the name on record appears to be Thurstan Robert Rumpe, who was recorded in 1095 in County Suffolk, and Edward Rumpe appears in Norfolk in the year 1170. Geoffrey filius Rumphar was documented in County York in 1273, and Casse Rump of Cumberland appears in the same year. Robert Rumpe of Cawston, County Norfolk was mentioned in the year 1521. The rise of surnames, according to the accepted theory, was due to the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is often assumed that men 'adopted' their surnames. Some certainly did, but the individual himself had no need for a label to distinguish him from his fellows. The development of the feudal system made it essential that the king should know exactly what service each knight owed. Payments to and by the exchequer required that debtors and creditors should be particularized. Monasteries drew up surveys and extents with details of tenants of all classes in their services. Any description which identified the man was satisfactory, his father's name, the name of his land, or a nickname known to be his. The upper classes mostly illiterate, were those with whom the officials were chiefly concerned and among them surnames first became numerous and hereditary.

Drennan

In the spirit of the Drennan blog, here's some Drennan history James discovered when researching Drennan's.

(My dad found some of the info new to him and of course quite interesting, as it's about the Drennan's, one of his favorite topics.)

(O) Drennan, Skehan, Thornton

The number of synonyms of Thornton revealed by the birth registrations recorded at the beginning of the present century is remarkable. Apart from occasional instances of Tarrant, Thorn, Torrens, etc., being so used, Drennan Dreinan, Drinane, Drinan and also Meenagh and Meenaghan were interchangeable with Thornton in counties Galway and Mayo, where at the present time Thornton is fairly numerous and Drennan, etc., are not. These are translations or pseudo-translations. Drennan is O Draighneain in Irish (draighnean means a blackthorn).

It is usually accepted that the sept of O'Drennan belonged to the Siol Anmchadha group, located in the barony of Longford, Co. Galway, where it now survives as Thornton. At the end of the eighteenth century Drynan was still fairly widely used both in Galway and Mayo. The name has very early associations with Co. Westmeath: the Four Masters record the death of Gillachiarain O Draighnen at Fore in 1163 and from various sources we learn that families of O'Drennan were living in other Leinster counties, particularly Kilkenny, and also in Co. Tipperary.

The United Irishman Dr. William Drennan (1754-1820), the poet who was the first to call Ireland "the Emerald Isle," was the son of a Belfast dissenting minister. His two sons John and William were also poets. Matthew Thornton (1714-1803) was a signatory of the American Declaration of Independence.

The front of our unit, we're the first from the right.

Doreen embroidering in her nice comfy chair.

Ah. the master bedroom with king bed.

Hugh reading his Kindle and watching TV on the couch, what a multitasker.

Getting read for our afternoon canasta round in the Florida room.

Connected to the world via internet.

Our lovely dining table used once to entertain Kristian and Everrett.

Knick knack and huge TV

 Da bar.

If you come to visit, this will be your room.

Kitchen in case you couldn't figure that out.

Kitchen has a neat bump out window.

More golf action shots to follow; maybe. Some of you have already seen things by googling our address.

Plumber Preacher

Time for another addition to the Drennan blog which I have figured out by now nobody reads, but still it gives me something to do when no whacking the little white ball in cow pastures.


When we got home last night Doreen asked if I heard a sound at the refrigerator and even my deaf ears did. Pulled out the refrig and low a behold we had a fountain addition to the condo. No little Dutch boys were around so we just shut the water off to the frig. I must add Doreen went running down the street hollering for help from George, there were no Georges but a couple of other nice guys, Canadians came to our rescue one turning off the correct value to the refrig, I had turned off the one to the dish washer which hadn't done much good.


Anyways it was off to Home Depot (with the blessings of our landlord) to find parts. After a lot of driving the pipe was fixed in a few minutes. Here's to plastic and bleah to copper. 

New Authors

After a good deal of blundering about I have finally figured out how to have multiple editors/posters on this blog as was intended. Most of the family should have received an email by now and following its directions can become contributors to the blog. I hope that most of you will choose to do that. It may entail getting a gmail account but that should be no biggy. 
Doreen was my test case and is not listed as an author.
Hurray, here's to family blogging! 
H

Book Corner

For Christmas Doreen gave me a Kindle book reader. I’ve been trying to give her one for a couple of years but she didn’t seem interested even though she is reading a lot, especially with her book club.

 Well, do I love my Kindle. I’ve been reading up a storm since then (No, I don’t golf all the time.) I especially like all the free books one can get. So, I downloaded The Wisdom of the Fathers and Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton. Wow, is that fella a wordsmith. If you compare letters from now to 100 to 200 years ago we appear like illiterates. Really stimulated the old grey cells.

 I also got Democracy in America, Part 2 (couldn’t find part 1) by Alexander Tocqueville to go along with my renewed interest in politics and economic and the inherent problems with democratic systems which are readily apparent today.

Another delight was Stupid American History by Leland Gregory which is full of funny materials about ourselves and our nation.

Again, with my revived interest in economics I downloaded The Economic Consequences of the Peace… by the great economist John Maynard Keynes and The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith the basic primer of the free enterprise system. So much of this is material I have read during college years and rue the fact that today college students get less and less liberal arts type of education. The nation is all the poorer for it.

I just finished The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson, a real hoot once you get into it.

Currently I’m reading Heat Wave by Richard Castle. For you Castle TV watchers Richard Castle is a writer who writes books about Nikki Heat while trailing her real life counterpart Detective Becket. Fun.

Recently we downloaded The Book of Awaking, by Mark Nepo, one of Oprah’s life changing books. Doreen may wrestle the Kindle away  from me to read it.

You can also download book samples. I have bits from Lies I Told My Children by Karen McQuestion and With God on the Golf Course by Phil Calalaway.

The Kindle comes with a couple of dictionaries which are interactive with the book text, so if you don’t know a word you can just go to it and get its definition, nifty. There are a bunch of neat gadgets like that to make your reading more interesting.

You can also download magazines and newspapers and the books are quite reasonable, mostly under $10.  If you know folk with a similar book reader you can share books with them, the major flaw with book readers.

Anyhow, I am definitely a fan of these gadgets which are east to tote around and use. I love just turning it on, connecting to the internet and downloading whatever I want free and otherwise.

 ---

P.S. Two books that I’ve read recently that have really impacted my views of economics, taxes and government are Free Lunch  and Perfectly Legal by David Cay Johnston. I heard him talking on PBR and was wowed by his knowledge of our tax system. He is a NY Times financial writer and a Noble Prize winner. Really good reads that will also scare the socks of you by what’s happening with our economy. The essential premise is that the rich have bought the government (both parties) and use laws to tax the middle and lower classes to make the rich richer. Some read. I’ve loaned my copies to Kent for now. Looking forward to his comments.

Think we can ever recreate this time? Naw, but there are always new times a coming.

Pantaloons

Pantaloons were pants wore by common folk in France in the late 18th century; just in case you didn't know; billowy things, but the French always seemed prone toward the silly in my mind. Now I see it is a new web site with the latest in wearing apparel, go figure.


Now for we Wisconsinites and ex-Iowans we need to trap and bunch of loons and outfit them with billowy pants. I'm just sayin'.


Always thinking...it's good for you.

Perfect

⁴⁸Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.  ~Matthew 5:48 

Psalm 8

¹O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

²Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

³When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;

⁴what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

⁵Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,

⁷all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

⁸the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

I have always been befuddled by Psalm 8* which describes the high regard God apparently has for human beings. And then there is the whacko bit from Matthew telling us to be perfect. Perfect? Are you kidding; anyone with the slightest insight into human nature knows that’s impossible. Oh, we coo about babies being perfect, which is also a total load; and I’m not just talking about the contents of their diapers. Babies are totally completely utterly selfish. Babies are only concerned with their being dry, fed, warm, comfortable – selfish, selfish, selfish, or in theological garb – totally sinful. Perfection is out of the question, not even remotely possible. Some of as we get older delude ourselves into think we are getting nicer. We become concerned about our children and put their needs above our own; but their your children; it’s just another form of selfishness. Sin.

However, I have begun to notice more often that when I look at the members of my family and friends and even total strangers they make me smile and I think they’re perfect.  What has happened to my clear analytical mind? But it is how I see them; perfect. Go figure.

Perhaps what is going on with me and others afflicted with this delusional activity, is that we are infected from time to time with a God virus. For God does see us as perfect; at least that is how I understand the biblical record. Oh, I know all about the sinful condemnations of God upon people and how our actions really rankle his/her Deityness. But the point of the scriptural story is that God sacrificed his Son Jesus to eradicate sin. So, when God looks at us God sees us after the fact of that redemption ~ sinless , pefect. The fact that we continue to break commandments, fail to love God and each other, and screw up in countless human ways doesn’t change a thing; we are and remain continually redeemed – perfect.

I remember after Ella was born and Kelly was telling Doreen how amazed she was that she could love someone so much, to totally, so completely. Amazing. How can we do that? Lots of explanations can be made, but I think it is the God virus.

So, my family, my friends, my unknown extended family that’s it ~ we’re perfect and there’s nothing, no matter how are we try, it how we are – perfect. It is God’s love virus. Whether you believe in God or not is immaterial because it is not about us, but about God.

*Priscilla, the writer of the New Testament book, Hebrews found it so incredible that she quoted it with human just below the angels and her editor husband agreed. Not everyone agrees with my opinion as to who wrote Hebrews but so what.

Psalm 8 (from Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message)

A David psalm

¹God, brilliant Lord,

yours is a household name.

²Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;

toddlers shout the songs

That drown out enemy talk,

and silence atheist babble.

³I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,

your handmade sky-jewelry,

Moon and stars mounted in their settings.

⁴Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,

Why do you bother with us?

Why take a second look our way?

⁵Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,

bright with Eden’s dawn light.

⁶You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,

repeated to us your Genesis-charge,

⁷Made us lords of sheep and cattle,

even animals out in the wild,

⁸Birds flying and fish swimming,

whales singing in the ocean deeps.

⁹God, brilliant Lord,

your name echoes around the world.

Cultural Conventionality vs. Christian Morality

This is a follow up to my wee memo to family about joining me in this blog, which included a diatribe about internet slang such as OMG (oh my god) or OMFG (oh my fucking god) or even LOL. If you are limited to thumb typing on your cell phone it might make sense (unless of course you are driving down the highway risking life and limb of all around you.) Slang shortens even lend themselves to the minispeak arenas such as Facebook. Two problems come to mind: first, it’s lazy, and second in of case of OMG and OMFG is that it’s blasphemy; you know, taking the Lord’s name in vain (commandment number 3 to be specific.) It is pretty common for folk to blaspheme today. We are more likely to invoke the name of the deity when we smash of finger with a hammer or if someone cuts us off on the highway that we are to pray; a rather sad commentary on the state of our society.

Strangely I am less upset about obscenity than I am blasphemy when the opposite seems true for most others. Take the OMFG for instance; God’s name is special and should be respected and the use of God’s name in such a casual and demeaning way offends me. “Fucking” in the slang OMFG, while offensive is less upsetting to me. Fuck comes from the Latin, “to do, or make” and has been become a crude expression of folk with limited vocabularies to express a variety of emotions. George Carlin practically made a career of such offensive words to people who wouldn’t even blink of the blasphemous use of God’s name. If you feel the need for such expression say it like the Irish, “Fock”, it somehow sounds better, but that’s just me.

The real point of all this is as the title of this tidbit says, “Cultural conventions versus Christian morality”. Despite protestations to the contrary, we live in a very secular society. Thus, demeaning God’s name is not seen as a great offence even among those who call themselves Christians (and likely are) but not very adept practitioners of it. A typical parent today is less offended, if offended at all by their child saying, “Oh my god” or “OMG” but can be exceedingly upset if the child says: fuck, shit, crap, damnit, asshole, or any other verbiage that seems in bad taste by current cultural conventions. The same is true of the parents or adult role models in their lives in their daily speech. An occasional “god damn it” or “Jesus Christ” (not in a religious context) seems the same or even less offensive that a “son of a bitch”, “rotten bastard” or “motherfucker, or other non creative obscenities.

If you use obscenities a few folk may look down their noses at you for awhile. And you would think God, with all eternity to remember our demeaning words about God’s self but is probably less offended. God is weird that way. God is a great forgiver. But not acknowledge God’s name as holy is still in far worse taste than a dumb obscenity. At least it would seem that way for believers.

But I suppose, who gives a rodent’s backsides anyway?

Post Script: This whole piece has been done from the perspective of Christian morality and a small portion of it as well. There lies a whole new discussion between social convention versus morality in and of itself. Morality can be based upon a multitude of beliefs.

Florida is fine

Even though Doreen (wife) and I live in Fountain City, WI most of the time; now we are residing in Palm Habor, Fl at the Highland Lakes old folks community. It's a delightful place where I can golf as much as a please (if that is possible.) We've made some new friends and found our way around the place and like it. It is currently 53 degrees on its way to the mid 60's today. Friends back in Fountain City too bad about the 20's you're having (sadistic chuckle.)

The condo where we are staying is owned by some fine Canadians who have completely refurbished the place; it's great. I'll try to show pictures when I figure that out.
I've met some golf buddies already who love to golf one hour before God arises (9 a.m.) but sacrifices have to be made. We're golf Monday's and Fridays. As soon as I get enough rounds in I think I'll joint one of the leagues  for sufficient humiliation. We rented a golf cart which had to be replaced, got it a couple of days ago and I immediately ripped the rear view mirror off it. Replaced it yesterday so we can romp down the roads with a bit more safety now.

There are three executive courses which we can play for free (free included multitudes of fees for various things). Doreen has played twice and quite well. She had a 62 and a 61 (yes they were on par nines.) I've been shooting in the low 40's and high 30's. Been have trouble getting the yardages down, the carry here is a lot different the Walnut Grove at home.

Enough for posting one. Now to try and find out how to let folk known this things exists.