Seeing Clearly

This week I’ve had this epiphany just to share an unvarnished version of my blog.

As I stated in 2009 (https://www.kevinneal.com/blog/2009/02/) when I started my blog, being transparent was what I will do!

So, against my resistance, I went to a local optometrist who was so wonderful!

After talking with the him for nearly an hour, he assured me that simple age, and especially stress can negativity affect vision. I always thought that the mind can overcome physical issues, but I was wrong. The way that that eye doctor explained was that our eyes naturally are gifted to focus, and there are eye-muscles to do this work even though it’s unconscious to us.

He explained, when we age those eye-muscles that help us focus just don’t work as well. Sort of like when our eye-muscles tend to breakdown then they don’t, coincidently enough, work as expected and cause headaches because it’s such a sincere effort to “see” which is something we are accustomed to naturally.

Also, as far as seeing clearly I know for a fact that this blog is under data surveillance, which is rather pathetic, but it is-what-it-is and those who choose to snoop so low are empty souls.  God Bless them as I pray that they eventually find happiness in their lives instead of the destruction they’ve caused. So, I say “hello and welcome” to our viewers and thanks to contributing to higher viewership.

I hope this valuable data of my Pet Family, Personal Life, Movie Reviews and basic business dealings that you can scrape from my publicly available blog gives you great satisfaction. I will not change my faith in humanity for your selfish, monetary, greed.

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Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970) – Movie Review

Two Mules for Sister Sara is another Clint Eastwood classic. This is a fun movie of unexpected twists. The plot is very simple and both Clint and Shirley MacLaine played magnificent roles as very believable characters.

In his role as Hogan, Clint Eastwood, is his typical cowboy wandering the wild west when he stumbles upon Sister Sara riding a mule in the rough and tough desert land. The movie has many subtle funny scenes where Hogan and Sara are the dastardly (Clint) and the righteous (Shirley).

What’s all the more funny is that after I watched this movie a few times, I learned that Clint and Shirley were actually a couple! Upon reflection, I could sense that their relationship in the movie was quite genuine and it warms my heart to know how much fun making this movie must have been for them.

As far as the movie goes, basically it’s Hogan and Sara traveling together until they reach the main purpose of their adventure which is to save Sara from a ruthless bunch of Mexican bandits.

I highly recommend Two Mules for Sister Sara as a fun watch. It’s an adventure of this two fun people which is quite entertaining. I would give Two Mules for Sister Sara 9 out of 10 Steelers Stars.

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High Plains Drifter (1973) – Movie Review

High Plains Drifter (1973 – Clint Eastwood) is one of my all time favorite movies. Not because it’s action-filled or the typically Hollywood fancy stunt scenes. Rather, this movie had Clint Eastwood’s rather tough guy attitude and a very simple example of decency all rolled-up into one cigar-smoke.

The storyline of the movie is very simple, yet very deep also. I’ve seen this movie probably over 50 times now and I continue to be amazed at the powerful message of redemption that I had at the end of each viewing.

The plot of the movie was based in the town of Lago, and this town of Lago had a dirty little secret that they had hung a sheriff. The residents of Lago knew what they had done was wrong but there is no way to undue something such as a lynching.

So, Clint Eastwood (as the High Plains Drifter), comes into Lago as sort-of a ghost to teach the residents of Lago a lesson. Ironically enough, the High Plains Drifter, carefully plots his revenge to coincide with the return of three criminals that also want revenge on Lago.

This movie is fairly dark in it’s delivery so don’t watch High Plains Drifter if you are looking for a feel good story. HPD is about taking responsibility and not going along with the crowd for convenience. This movie is about the opportunity to make amends and not waiting too long to do this.

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Memories of Mom and Matt

This is a wonderful photo of my Mom and my youngest brother, Robert Matthew (a.k.a. “Matt”). These two had a really special relationship and while I miss them tremendously, it warms my heart to know that they are in Heaven together for eternity.

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J.C. is the blessing we never imagined

Brandee and I continue to be amazed daily, how lucky we are to have been able to re-home my mom’s cat, J.C.  J.C. (“Just Cat”) truly is a remarkable gift from God that came to us in uncertain times, but has worked out the best.

For those who might not have been following the story, Brandee and I already had four adopted animals with our two dogs of Gracie and Finn, but also our two cats of Bleu and Ella. While our dogs didn’t give us too much concern about integrating J.C. into our home, the unknown of having our two female cats was something we had to take very seriously.  We just couldn’t predict exactly how everyone would interact with each other.

Fast-forward one year later and I’m happy to report that J.C. has assimilated into our family so nicely and I think he’s found his happy place in life.  J.C. is the type of guy that you can sense his feelings, and it’s pretty apparent that he misses my mom and dad (who raised him for his first 10 years), but he also enjoys that zany-nest of his new family with Gracie, Finn and especially Bleu and Ella.

Brandee has given J.C. a new nick-name of “Bubba” which I think fits his funny personality very well. Bubba likes to spend most of his days lounging-around his bed, which Brandee constructed of many fluffy pillows, and leisurely exploring our living room area with the rest of us. Bubba never makes a fuss about himself and he just generally goes with the flow watching the action such as Daddy throwing the ball for Finn to fetch like 200-times nightly!

In summary, I’m so glad that J.C. is part of the Neal Barnhouse Family.  He is such an interesting character that makes Brandee and me so happy plus he’s a good example of an older brother for his four other siblings. It’s also amazing that J.C. is an angel in our house that has experiences with my mom and dad that is only known to him.

We love you J.C.!

-Mommy and Daddy

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