scattershooting

change is good

2009-07-07T11:27:00.003-06:00

A couple of years ago in another or former life, I started a blog under the name Red Bridge Rancher which paralled our farm website - redbridgeranch.com

Two problems - after months of trial and error I realized I was not a website designer and more importantly last summer we sold all our sheep. So right now we aren't much in the way of ranchers or farmers. Still have dogs, three horses, a cat and two steers but that hardly qualifies us for much.

The old blog name didn't mean much without the ranch part so ... I found a new name for my blog, which I will continue with the usual fits and starts and I got the name crunksblog.blogspot.com which comes a lot closer to being what it should be. I never intended to be anonymous but the old name probably didn't click with most people right away.

So in a sense I'm moving and I really have no idea what that means in terms of google's blogspot but if you go to redbridgerancher.blogspot.com hopefully it can re-direct you to crunksblog.blogspot.com.

Studebakers and Canasta

2009-06-24T19:44:00.004-06:00

Waiting for a turn signal this morning and noticed an old car coming toward me. Distinctive fins and overall a look so ugly but somehow nostalgic. A mid-1950s Studebaker.

As it passed I noticed the driver was a senior citizen of some vintage.

This mentally took me back to the mid-50s and a neighbor.

Two doors up from us lived the Milfords; CW and his wife (who's name I can't recall.) By the time I got to know them, they were retired and at least in their 60s if not older.

My parents played cards and dominoes with them almost weekly. Often they let me play Canasta (a really fun game played with so many decks of cards I couldn't handle them all), Cribbage (funny little game with pegs) and dominoes (84 being the name of the game.) No wonder I learned to count early and was always good at math until I hit calculus!

This couple was traditional, quiet and occasionally a little rough on kids. I don't recall ever hearing them talk of any of their own and never remember anyone coming by to visit.

Several memories: their house was my favorite on Halloween because she always made what she called carrot cookies. Can't really describe but sweet and fruit and cake-like all at once.

Bermuda grass is prolific in Texas - I guess the runner-type of grass does well in the high dry heat. But the Milford's yard was a thick dark green grass called St. Augustine. It was great for football because it was so soft, it didn't really hurt when you fell. You could also roll in it without getting itchy. Except this is where Mrs. Milford would get rough. Funny if I was over with my parents and went out to play, I could just about do what I wanted to but if I was with other neighborhood kids, she'd yell and shoo us away.

CW collected Avantis - those weird or really cool looking Studebaker sports cars. He drove regular Studebakers for his work car but always had an Avanti or two in some phase of restoration.

My last memory and one that really dates or ages me and looking back, seems rather silly perhaps but our peak time of friendship was the late 50s. Those around back then recall duck-and-cover drills, fall-out shelters etc. CW built what he said was a nuclear fall-out proof room inside his house. Today it might qualify as a safe-room or perhaps a tornado shelter. He build super thick, heavily insulated walls around a room in the middle of his house, stocked it with water and non-perishable foods like Y2K was coming and the doors would probably work in a bank vault. And of course when the Russians dropped the big one, we were invited to come and sit out the post-nuclear whatever.

One last little memory, CW always called his wife "lover". He'd say, "Lover, can I have another cup of coffee?" or something like that but he always prefaced with that pet name. Don't know that I've ever heard anyone else do that in my life.

They both passed away by the time I was in college and even though I only lived two houses away, I really had lost touch with them by then. Wish I had kept up contact. Also wish I could remember how to play Canasta!

The first cut is the deepest

2009-06-23T20:44:00.004-06:00

Today our little Willie is well ... he had the better part of his horse-ly manhood removed. So he moved from the status of Stallion to that of Gelding. I got a lesson in horse anatomy from our very nice vet. He showed them to me, where he cut, what he cut out etc. We'll just have to see if that makes any difference in how he behaves. Gentle now but spunky. Hopefully Annie (daughter #3 who purchased said Stallion from her mother) can work with him and get him ready to ride.

I was a temporary horse hoof trimmer while Willie was unconscious. His hooves hadn't acquired Howard Hughes status yet but they needed some work. Standing over a horse with my back bent at a 90 degree angle in 90 PLUS degree heat was exhausting. I was sweating up a storm and the vet never broke a sweat!

I learned what a squeeler is today too in terms of anatomy. Sometime I'll have to relate that but for some citified folk - it might rank up there with a prior posting on Butt Baths and my two little steers. Who by the way are no longer bulls but steers (see Stallion to Gelding above) thanks to a device and a couple of rubber bands. This one bears more explaining also but - another time, another place.

Extended stays

2009-06-19T11:34:00.005-06:00

Driving by our local mega-health care facility yesterday and noticed something in their parking lot - several RVs and 5th wheel travel trailers. My first thought was construction offices but their latest project is long since done.

Then it hit me what they probably represent - families of people who are in the hospital for long periods of time.

We have a Ronald McDonald house already for parents of ill children.

But I've never thought about where people stayed when their spouse, child or loved one was hospitalized - until yesterday. What I usually see are people sacked out on couches, recliners in rooms or the occasional friendly nurse who allows an empty bed to be used - but what hospital has any empty bed these days?

My second thought is why doesn't every hospital set up an area for RVs and trailers and such? All that is needed is a little electricity, some way to dispose of waster water and a flat paved spot. Two of those three should be a piece of cake.

Another local hospital actually has a hotel inside but that involves considerable personal expense unless it is just for a day or two.

We'll see how many health care places run with my idea. Maybe some already have.

getting it

2009-06-01T16:11:00.002-06:00

I got a magazine last week at work for an organization I belong to (but not for long – but that is another story).

RTNDA – the Radio Television News Directors Association – I’ve been a member for several years and they have a respected national reputation. They stand up for all sorts of First Amendment things, Shield Laws and offer all sorts of training and educational opportunities.

They also publish the aforementioned magazine – the Communicator. It is probably painfully obvious that an organization of people involved in Radio and TV news, doesn’t fit together like hand-in-glove with a magazine. I guess a carry-over from a different era.

Well it appears that leadership finally recognized this and decided to suspend the print version of the magazine. Probably not a bad idea. But in the same sort of “re-arranging deck chairs on the …” they decided to change their name.

The old RTNDA now becomes the RTDNA. Huh? Can’t tell the difference? Neither could I right away then I read further and realized they changed their name to – Radio Television Digital News Association.

So in trying to keep up with all the changes brought on by user generated content, web 2.0 and myriad social media et al, some rocket-scientist decided that this subtle change of adding the word “digital” into the name and scrambling the acronym will make them relevant and cutting-edge.

RTNDA has been around since 1946. No doubt it has been through several sea-changes in those 63 years. They are probably late to the party on this one. But to throw away a well-known acronym just to get the word digital in their name seems worse than 'throwing the baby out …’

One step forward (stopping publication of a paper magazine) and two steps back (name change).

But what do you expect from the folks who think bloggers only work in their PJs and somehow represent a threat to the accurate and objective truth that only real journalists and publications can offer.

Graphic Design

2009-06-01T16:08:00.001-06:00

Far be it from me to question top-notch world-class graphic designers but has anyone picked up and read a Newsweek magazine lately?

I don’t subscribe so I guess have no right to complain but they remind me of an old magazine. They changed fonts but more importantly, I can’t tell all the articles from the ads. They’d probably think that is a good thing so they can tell advertisers that more people are reading the ads but in my case, it already takes a lot to get me to read an ad in a magazine. If I’m having trouble telling whether something is an ad or an honest-to-goodness article, then I’ll move on.

I’m not stupid or blind and on many pages there are no ads so it isn’t always that hard. But even on these, the layout and fonts don’t draw me in – they make me flip the page. Hardly the response the designers were likely after.

Between Time and Newsweek, I’ve always liked Newsweek better – until now. But not having seen a Time in months, maybe they’ve already had a makeover too.

furious

2009-06-01T11:31:00.007-06:00

OK the title is not complete but maybe it got your attention.

I'm about halfway through the furious longing of God.

If you've heard of the Ragamuffin Gospel then you know all about brennan manning (don't know if this is an e.e. cumming's thing but he doesn't use a lot of capitals)

I won't even try to critique the book - I'm sure he is not for everybody but ... I ran across this in today's early morning read. I took a break from reading the Psalms in the Message to peruse more of furious.

I always enjoy links or connections and I guess that's what appealed to me here.

Manning has just spoken of the last words of Jesus on the cross; the all-too-familiar "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Manning notes that a French Biblical scholar named Pierre Benoit, posited what he thought God might have spoken back to Jesus at that moment. Here is Benoit's suggestion from the New Jerusalem Bible:

"Come now, my love. My lovely one, come.
For you, the winter has passed,
the snows are over and gone,
the flowers appear in the land,
the season of joyful songs has come."

This comes from the Song of Solomon (see Chap. 2:10-14 for the full passage). This is a plausible and most certainly beautiful way of imagining what God might have said as Jesus hung there waiting. Waiting to die.

We can only imagine further that these words "Into Your hands I commit my spirit." were Jesus' response to the words attributed to Solomon.

I'm less than halfway through this short book but am really enjoying it. It comes in short little chunks that can be easily read at one sitting and give the brain and spirit something to think about for the rest of the day.

To Eldon

2009-05-18T16:05:00.004-06:00

In honor of the Preakness, my wife and I spent Saturday taking care of one of our horses. Actually it was not in honor of anything but it needed to be done.

I can't do anything with a horse without thinking of Eldon, our first farrier.

When we moved to Missouri in the early 90s and knew less than nothing about animals and the country and all that, he came and trimmed hooves, put on horseshoes, gave us valuable lessons about horses and country life and occasionally would sit down and play guitar.

He was a small wiry sort of man who looked older that he should have. He died much younger than he needed to.

Eldon traveled around in a beat up old pick-up with all his farrier tools and would spend hours sometimes at our place and when time came to write up a bill, it often seemed like it wouldn’t even cover his gas (and this back when $1.50 seemed high!) My wife got in the habit of paying him more than he charged. Bet you never say that about your mechanic or hair-stylist!

Working on horses is similar to shearing sheep: you spend a great deal of time bent over in unnatural positions hoping an animal won’t step on you, kick you or take a crap in your face!

We managed to avoid two out of the three Saturday.

After spending only a couple of hours on this; on the next day and the day after that, my quads (those muscles on the front of your thighs) are still sore. I guess I overcompensated to protect my back (a good thing) and ended up bending my legs a lot more. I will definitely take sore legs over a sore back any day. My back only hurt Saturday evening and a little on Sunday.

At one point my wife complimented my work (which was OK, nothing to write home about) and I said ‘Eldon is up there laughing at us,’ as we gamely tried to get it done.

So Eldon, if you are reading blogs up there, thanks for the memories.

Top heavy

2009-05-15T15:00:00.001-06:00

We’ve all seen the old men wearing Hawaiian shirts, Khaki shorts with a belt, socks and sandals. (I promise, Gill, I will NEVER dress like that!) From underneath their shorts, spindly little bird legs appear. They often wear floppy hats. Apart from being gross violations just begging for the style police to show up, they also usually look top heavy. Wouldn’t take much to humpty-dumpty them right down.

Today I saw a big truck. A jet-black long-bed quad-cab thing. It had custom wheels – those silvery kind where you can see through the spokes. Also the tires were low profile – big 17 or 18 inchers but that can’t be more than an inch thick. I can’t imagine how rough the ride must be.

But the observation here is that the top didn’t match the bottom. This truck under normal circumstances with large tires, normal wheels etc. would have been a pretty nice looking ride. But with what I can only call “wheels of bling”, it looked like it was about to fall over.

Why would anybody – even someone with obvious money to burn – take a perfectly good truck and “goober it up” like that? This younger generation!

It's My Party and I'll Switch if I want to

2009-04-28T11:04:00.004-06:00

Just a quick thought about Sen. Specter's party-switch.

I think people should follow their convictions BUT ... if someone voted for Mr. Specter when he ran as a Republican, were they voting for the man, the party or a combination of both? It is likely all three in many cases. But is it fair for someone to switch in mid-stream after making certain promises, pledges etc.?

I guess my question is this: Should there be an election for Mr. Specter to run again for the same office? Give people another chance to vote for (or against) him as a Democrat rather than a Republican? What about those in the Democratic party in his state who have been working and planning for the next election? Does this have their blessing too?

The whole idea of switching parties at that level seems odd. Like OK to do but then why should you get to keep everything you won or got elected to if you have changed?

The Brill Building

2009-04-24T15:42:00.002-06:00

Years ago in another life and another job (as noted in a previous blog) I got to go to New York City frequently for work. Usually a day or two at a time and then back home again. I always enjoyed the trips but would come home exhausted. The NYC pace was always a lot faster than wherever home was at the time.

In the mid 80s, we rented and outfitted a recording studio in the Brill Building, which if you follow music history at all – was and still may be an iconic place.

Many, many years ago the halls would have been filled with famous songwriters and musicians. The halls even in the 80s were one wooden and glass door after another with obscure sounding names of publishing companies. In the olden days of the music business, people wrote songs first. Then they sold them and then somebody else played and sang them. But things started in places like the Brill Building. Walking down the halls you could still hear music of all sorts emanating from the various rooms.

Denizens of the Brill Building included: Carole king, Burt Bacharach, Neil Sedaka and hundreds of others over decades dating back to the 1930s.

The Brill is on Broadway not too far from Times Square. Back when I was going there, Times Square had not yet been “Disney-fied” and cleaned up. We were always careful walking out late at night. And we had to walk by some places that were interesting.

There used to be a TV series (Exec. Produced by Spielberg) called Amazing Stories. I had an idea back then for an episode that would have a budding musician walking the halls trying to sell his music. At each door he’d walk in and in one office might be the big band-types of the 40s banging out a demo of their latest tune. Or at another door, Bobby Darin trying out ‘Mack the Knife.’ A few doors later Carole King playing on a piano in her cubicle in the 60s before her own career took off.

Each door would take our time-travelling musician to another decade. I have no idea how to end it and where he would be but the concept always intrigued me. the movie "Corrine, Corrina" with Whoopi Goldberg and Ray Liotta reminded me of the Brill.

I have no idea what the Brill Building is like today but I always felt like I was stepping back in time whenever I went inside.

An ode to Cesar

2009-04-24T15:16:00.001-06:00

They say smell is a great rememberer. You smell something and are taken back to wherever, whenever something associated with that smell took place. I agree but today it was something I saw that took me back to the late 70s and early 80s.

At that time my job had me going to New York City about once a month to supervise the re-recording of a television program into foreign languages. We hired or rather contracted a gentleman in NYC by the name of Cesar Yazigi. If I could, I’d be putting little accent marks all over his name.

Cesar was many things. Wealthy for one – he lived on Beekman Place – not street and possibly in the same building as Leonard Bernstein and other wealthy NYers. His monthly maintenance he paid to his building owner (which for some reason he told me once) was way more than any mortgage I’ve ever had – and this was just for cleaning common areas, paying the doorman, security etc.

Cesar also hailed from Brazil and was in some way connected with the language school that came under the name Yazigi which if I recall, was to Brazil what we used to think of as Berlitz in the U.S. His primary day job, although I never once saw him go to the United Nations building, was to hire and train translators for the UN. Hence my association with him since we needed translators and people who could speak a variety of languages.

What did I see that reminded me of him? A canvas tote bag. I saw it and wondered if I could use one. What I remember about Cesar and tote bags was he never carried a briefcase. He always used paper supermarket bags to carry his stuff to and from the office.

Cesar had money to buy any type of briefcase he wanted but he chose to carry a paper bag. Cesar apparently never spent real money on clothes either. He was paunchy and seemed to always be in some state of dishevelment with a button undone, a wrinkled shirt, loose tie. Think Henry Kissinger with a Portuguese/Brazilian accent.

Cesar once told me never to take the time to stop and pick up coins on the street because you’d lose more money in your own time than you gain by whatever small amount you got stopping and bending over.

I never knew how old Cesar was. He always seemed a lot older but that could be because I was in my 20s. He was married to a pretty Armenian woman named Anik.

I lost touch with Cesar in the 80s and later heard he passed away. I wish I had kept in touch. Another thing he was, was extremely smart. And he knew plenty of good restaurants in the City. I ate lots of good food and likely never in the same place twice and he never let me pay for my food.

So here’s to you, Cesar. I miss you.

For want of a penny

2009-04-17T13:16:00.000-06:00

I went to buy dog food today and when the total rang up, I grabbed my bills and my pocket change (normally I don’t have any but today I did) and I came up one penny short. I joked and said ‘have you guys got a penny?’ as nine-times-out-of-ten almost anyplace has a little “give a penny – take a penny” holder and often the clerk will simply reach in a grab what is needed.

Both ladies behind the counter looked at me as if I was asking them to pay my bill. “We don’t have any,” was the response. One lady opened up another cash register drawer and stated “None over here.” Now I have no idea how that would have helped anyway, pulling a penny from one place to another; sort of a “borrowing from Peter to pay Paul” kind of thing.

Anyway they decided I could go without paying the penny. Please note, I had a dollar in my wallet and they knew that, it just didn’t make sense to break a dollar for me to get 99 cents in change.

I walked out to my truck dropped in the dog food and remembered I had picked up a penny off the floorboard earlier in the day. I grabbed it and went back inside. I was smiling as I went because I couldn’t believe I was doing this.

When I got back to the counter, the two ladies were still rummaging through drawers trying to find a penny.

White House dot gov

2009-04-17T10:59:00.002-06:00

An observation today. Heard that the White House has prettied-up their website so I checked it out.

All-in-all not bad I guess. But I found one interesting tidbit.

Either click on the Administration tab at the top or scroll down to see who’s who.

I know First Ladies and wives of Veeps (Second Lady?) are important people. They can play a useful role in the government. But unless I am mistaken, neither Michelle Obama's nor Dr. Jill Biden’s names were on any ballots I saw. Likewise I haven’t heard that they have been appointed or hired for any specific jobs but …

Both names are in the official list of the Administration. In fact both are listed above the Cabinet. I know enough about movie making and credits to know that placement and order of names is a big deal. So not only are they listed someplace that doesn’t make official sense to me but they are also listed above a lot of other people in the pecking order.

But I’m a little out of touch with what’s going on in DC right now; what with a family to feed and a mortgage to pay etc. so maybe I’ve missed something.

Gross

2009-04-11T16:09:00.003-06:00

Not like my last post, but gross as in versus net.

My daughter and I were eating at Cracker Barrel last night. Always great food but the gravy was rather tasteless. But let me tell you - put a pack of Splenda into a small bowl of grits, very yummy!

We were seated so that I faced the kitchen door and could see partly inside where everything was prepped. On a small whiteboard were written daily goals. These were dollar amounts for each meal and I can only assume that they represented the amount of food they hoped to sell. Since what I saw might be considered proprietary information; suffice it to say, I think Cracker Barrel must be doing very well in this sluggish economy. Add to those numbers what I'm sure they glean from their nifty retail operation, multiply that by the hundreds of franchises lining the interstates of America and I doubt Mr. Cracker and Mrs. Barrel are waiting for their bail out or stimulus checks. And we of course contributed our small part to their ongoing success.

Butt Baths

2009-04-11T16:01:00.003-06:00

We have two little "bucket" calves - so called because most dairy farmers put them on a bucket for their milk soon after they are born so the mamas can get back in the milking rotation. We bought a couple a few weeks ago to raise for ... uh, spoiler alert ... just think about where your latest hamburger came from as I move on.

One common problem for these little guys is called "scours" which is the cow form of diarrhea as they try to get used to different milk etc. Both of ours have had their share of this little problem. If you can imagine life without toilet paper ... sorry.

Anyway they needed to be cleaned up. So Annie, my daughter, got to hold the front end of each little guy while I went to work on the back end with some warm soapy water, a soft brush and a curry comb. 20 minutes or so later; clean as a whistle. Them, not us. Both of us started to smell slightly like, well, cow's behinds.

"Well life on the farm is kind of laid back, ain't much an ole country boy like me can't hack."

Jose can you play?

2009-04-10T21:04:00.004-06:00

In most books, Jose Feliciano will go down as a stereotype of the singer of a couple of well known songs - Feliz Navidad and his version of the Doors' Light My Fire. Some may remember him as a reasonably good guitarist but if you ever hear his version of Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee... For you non-classical people, it's a speed song. But I don't think the Russian wrote it for guitar. On XM today I heard it by Jose and while I don't particularly like the song played anyway, anyhow - you have to hear it to see how fast Mr. F. could play it. Hendrix was good and Eddie Van Halen was pretty quick and of course there are many others but I'd put this one up there in the pure speed category. If there is by some chance a video of it somewhere it would be amazing to watch.

TV series idea

2009-04-10T11:31:00.005-06:00

I have a new idea for a TV series – a mockumentary featuring Russian immigrant criminals.

With the advent of NBC’s/Amy Poehler’s Parks and Recreation program in the style of the Office and with two programs this weeks featuring Russian immigrant criminals (Without a Trace and Life) I think we need to combine the two ideas/techniques.

I read a caution to screenwriters a year or two ago about avoiding having your characters crawl through heating and air conditioning ducts. Somehow you were losing your creativity if you had to resort to that. (I like 24 but Jack Bauer has to get in a ceiling or crawl thru ductwork at least once a year!)

Now it seems that the writer/producers think that Russians make good villains so they keep popping up all over the place. And it was only a matter of time before somebody simply moved the Office to another town. Again. After all it started in England.

Since I work for a govt. entity, I thought some of the lines in last night's premiere of Parks and Recreation were funny. Lots of potential here but the show needs something. Maybe because I don't know any of the people who play besides Amy Pohler. But I hope they don't think copying the style of the Office will make it work.

Nothing better to do.

2009-04-06T16:44:00.002-06:00

I am amazed that most (can't possibly read it all) of the coverage of Obama's trip to London et al was about such things as touching the Queen, the grand exit from Air Force One, meeting with Sarkozy and his lovely wife etc. Hopefully something of substance was accomplished on this trip and the media either already reported on it or will get to it as soon as they are done fawning over the style rather than the substance.

Money makes the world go 'round

2009-03-31T11:29:00.003-06:00

I don't have enough time or smarts to propose any fixes or solutions to the world-wide money crisis but a few things just jump out at me.

Toxic assets. Why should the government be buying these up to save the companies that created or bought them or invested in them? If it was a little old grandmother who was cheated out of her life savings by a swindler and invested in something bad; OK. I can accept some exceptions where someone should step in and help. But why if a big smart company - let's pick any bank - if they somehow acquired a "toxic" asset, why should the govt. or me or anybody step in and take that off their hands? Now if they want to get rid of their bad investment so badly, then why don't sell it off for some % of the original value, take the write off and move on. But for the Feds to step in and say essentially "OK, we know you were stupid and invested badly but we are here to help so we'll take it of your hands so you can clean up your balance sheet." I don't get it. If I invested in say any stock, which reminds me, how about all my losses in my 457 plan (basically a 401K) where for years I invested in big name mutual funds managed by smart people but when the stocks turned downward, they got their commissions and I took the losses. Where was the Govt. to take those "toxic" mutual funds assets out of my retirement fund?

#2 peeve for the day: I guess GM is too big to leave alone but in too bad shape to fix itself. I understand that hundreds of thousands of jobs are tied to this behemoth. But when and where does the Federal Govt. get off suggesting that the CEO resign? I think he probably should have gotten out of Dodge a long time ago and that the shareholders would have been thinking about a 'tarrin' and featherin' long before the Feds started deciding who should run what company. I know Democrats like bigger government and more involvement but I never expected them to condone deciding who runs what company.

I guess this trickles down to the bonus issue recently. No way should any of those people have gotten rewarded for their bad decisions. But for the Govt' to start deciding how much people should be paid etc. Once again this seems like a slippery slope.

I realize that the money is either a loan or some sort of thing and for that the loaner should have some input but the key is making sure of a guarantee of getting the money back or a return on investment. Not being able to tell the company how to run their business. My mortgage company tells me I have to have certain kinds of insurance on my house in order to get my loan but they don't get involved in telling me where I should work or where and how I spend my money and I can hang pictures on my wall anywhere I please.

If this is where our govt. is headed, I'm not happy and slightly worried.

Quintessential American Songwriters

2009-03-01T16:00:00.002-06:00

My daughter and I were just thinking out loud while listening to Jackson Browne when we came up with a poll - pick the quintessential American Songwriter. We thought about Singer/Songwriter but that skews things in a different direction - although many of these are singers too. Comment, vote - whatever but let us know what you think.

Pick one of these (or nominate your someone) who has created a lasting body of work that captures the essence of American life, whose work has endured and crossed genres, time periods, not necessarily the best or most popular songwriter or the most prolific. These are in alpha order. These are 20 we came up with quickly and we likely have left out some very good ones so - vote early, vote often!

the un-scientific Quintessential American Songwriter poll

Irving Berlin
Jackson Browne
Hoagy Carmichael
Johnny Cash
Bob Dylan
Stephen Foster
George and Ira Gershwin
Woody Guthrie
Billy Joel
Don McLean
John Mellencamp
Bill Monroe
Willie Nelson
Cole Porter
Rogers and Hammerstein
Pete Seeger
Paul Simon
Bruce Springsteen
James Taylor
Jimmy Webb

Short story idea - Do Over

2009-02-07T11:39:00.002-06:00

Walking my two frisky border collies this windy morning and thinking about decisions I've made during my life. We all regret many of them and wish we could have some "do-overs" but life doesn't work that way.

This idea hit me for a story but I have no idea how to flesh it out.

Let's say you got some do-overs but with conditions. The condition being you could go back and pick a point in your life where you wanted to have a do over but the on-going catch is you can't just change that one thing. From that point on, future decisions have to be different as well. Example - you decide to go back at the point of taking some stupid job and change that. Fine, but from that point on, other life choices have to be different. For instance - if you go back to your do-over point and it was BEFORE you got married, then that future choice would have to be different. When your life moved forward to that time in your "re-doing" your life, you'd have to make a different choice, in this case either to marry somebody else OR not get married.

So the point you pick for your do-over is critical because it changes everything AFTER that point. Family decisions, job decisions etc. I haven't decided how deep they need to go.

I have no idea where to go with this idea other than it was intriguing. Some smart soul will no doubt tell me it has been done and provide the name of the movie or book. If so, please do then I can see how they worked it out.

It is a big deal.

2009-01-20T10:07:00.001-06:00

Like many of my like-minded friends, I was disappointed with the outcome of last November’s election. But that was so last year.

Like it or not, today is a huge day in American history for obvious reasons.

But racism is not over. The United States has not (perhaps) fully paid its debt for allowing slavery to ever come to our shores in the first place. Decades of discrimination and Jim Crow laws cannot be wiped away with a few pieces of well-crafted legislation. And electing our first African-American President will not completely wipe away the damage done. It is a start.

But today – and maybe just for today – millions of African-Americans can have hope again. The same kind of hope they felt in 1963 when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech.

None of us should take that hope away from those who have waited so long for this day to take place. I’m sure millions never dreamed this day could ever even happen.

Today is hugely symbolic. Tomorrow Pres. Barack Obama, our 44th President, must get down to the nitty gritty of figuring out how to restore confidence in our economy, how to continue to protect our people from terrorist attacks, and dive into the quagmire we call the Middle East – just to name a few priorities.

And when he does, it won’t matter anymore whether he is black or white or how unusual his last name may be. Will he make choices I don’t like or agree with? Sure, but so did our previous President and the one before him and the one …

I admonished a friend on Facebook yesterday for some disrespectful comments he made about the Inauguration. I was not trying to be holier-than-thou when I reminded him of the 2nd chapter of 1st Timothy. Ironically (or maybe by design), today I was reading in Acts 23, verse 5 where Paul said “Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people,” which has its origins in Exodus 22:28.

I won’t promise to pray for our President every day. Maybe I should. But I’m not faithful enough to always pray for everything important every single day.

But what I can commit to, is to not speak badly of him. I can criticize his decisions, disagree with his policies and even hope he is not re-elected in 2012, but bottom line, he is our President right now which makes him my President and therefore deserving of at least my respect and when possible, my prayers.

Communication Breakdown

2009-01-16T12:27:00.003-06:00

Talking with a co-worker the other day and somewhat stating the obvious how the internet has changed everything. Further re-stating the obvious to say how it has becomes so many things that were once something else: shopping malls, town squares, encyclopedias and libraries and bookstores, party-lines (more on this later) - this list could go on ad infinitum.

But I thought about how much had changed in my own experience in terms of communications. Postcards have been replaced by Twitters or emailed pictures ("Wish You Were Here!") When I was young, postcards were a big deal. Does anybody send postcards anymore - beside your dentist to remind that it's time for a cleaning?

Party-lines? Not sure exactly what replaced them but has anyone ever been on one or even remember what they were? As a kid I recall my mother being relieved when we finally got our own private line. We no longer had to pick up the phone and hope somebody wasn't already on the line or that while speaking, someone else wouldn't cut in. Hard to imagine a time when the technology could barely carry one conversation down the copper wires. This was 50 years ago mind you but ... when we moved to Missouri in 1991 we had to have a party-line. Funny thing was at first we were the only party on it. Then we moved and in the next house we had to share a line with the people who bought our first house. Fortunately this didn't last long but for a time we had to listen for a certain ring which meant the call was for us.

Fax machines. These have almost (if not already) been made obsolete by email and attachments etc. But I remember my first fax machine. My job required me to communicate with offices in several countries overseas in vastly different time zones. One day my boss's boss, who was a technology geek, came in with something called a QWIP. Odd thing is, I think it was made by Exxon. It was as big as a laser printer is now and had a drum. You put either blank paper (to receive) on one sheet at a time or if sending you put the page face out on the drum. Secured it in place, picked up the handset, dialed a number, waited for some weird tone and then put the handset in a cradle. After a bit the drum would start to spin. It took between 3 & 6 minutes for one page. Nobody would wait that long for anything today but in 1976, this was a miracle. Didn't matter what time it was overseas, I could send my document (one page at a time of course) whenever I wanted and the next day it would be in Sydney or Manila or wherever.

Telegrams. The last one I remember getting personally was on my wedding day from a close friend in CA (Hi and thanks Roy!) But at work we had two machines: a telex and a TWX. Eventually I learned how to use both of them. They were these big clunky machines we kept in our art department - where photoshop hadn't yet been invented and their primary tools were talent, exacto knives and something by Pantone. I think TWX was faster than a Telex. But both of them printed things out on thin yellow-ish paper. Sending meant manually typing in every word. One of them was in real-time which meant there was no benefit to being a fast typist. The machine could only go so fast. If you went too fast (never was my problem!) it either spit our gibberish on the other end or went into freeze mode.

For some reason on the way to work this morning I guess I was feeling nostalgic for all this old technology. At least I could keep up with it.

No more Indy please!

2009-01-07T12:32:00.004-06:00

Sorry to say this but I tried to watch the latest installment of Indiana Jones - something about a Crystal Skull and aliens. Somethings just can't be improved upon. In its time Raiders was great. Admittedly I don't think it holds up over time but way back when ...

#2 was too gruesome, dark, etc. #3 was ok mostly because I really like Sean Connery but I confess I don't recall much else about it.

I spent about an hour late one recent Sat evening watching trying to wade thru #4. At about just a few minutes in I almost quit but decided to get some milk and cookies and give it another try. Around 45 minutes I got up but something sat me back down for a few more minutes. But I guess (SPOILER WARNING!) when Shia Lebouf used a big snake to get them out of the sand pit thing - cute that someone remembered Indy's fear and loathing of snakes, but I couldn't go on. The only other thing I think was reasonably clever was making Indy have a son he didn't know about.

I come up with all sorts of ideas and while this one (Indy and son) was not mine, I did write down one for James Bond a few years ago. The premise is that in all Bond's encounters, somewhere he has a son. Eventually they will cross paths. But when they do, his son is going to be on the wrong side of things and this presents Bond Sr. with a dilemma. Save the world or save his son. Probably not new and since I only started watching with Daniel Craig as Bond, there is a lot of Bond history I don't know. So if he already has been there and done this - pardon me. I really didn't know. Otherwise when this storyline makes its way into a movie, remember you heard it from me first or second or third ...

What was her name again?

2008-12-17T16:15:00.002-06:00

OK I’ll admit that maybe for known and unknown reasons, Sarah Palin did not help McCain get elected and may have even hurt. But I still think this was not her fault but rather one of strategy and her handlers.

Now as Yogi might say we have “déjà vu all over again,” with the Caroline Kennedy goings-on in NY state.

Now I don’t equate the role of Senator from NY with that of the Vice Presidency but they are pretty darn close – just ask Hillary.

How is it that Ms. Kennedy, who by all accounts is bright, attractive, connected – how is it that she somehow feels qualified to become the Senator of NY? By appointment no less. First off because she probably could not get elected in her own right.

If her last name did not include Kennedy, would her interest in the slot have gotten her any attention what-so-ever?

So far the media does seem to be at least asking the questions.
But in the déjà vu thing, per the NY Times in a photo caption, her aides are not letting her answer questions. So she’s doing one massive rolling photo-op.

I guess some lessons have been learned. If you have a candidate (what do you call someone “interested” in a position – a person of interest? No wait they use that for suspects in crimes.) who doesn’t have the goods to answer tough questions, then simply don’t answer them.

OK this update just in - I guess she has finally answered some questions: again from the NY Times front page on the web: "Caroline Kennedy described her experience as an author, mother and education advocate when asked about her qualifications to be a senator."

I rest my case.

the Rubaiyat

2008-12-11T12:39:00.003-06:00

Coffee houses. What an archaic term. If you said that today the closest thing to come to mind would be a Starbucks. But in the 60s and 70s they meant something entirely different. And I’m not even sure they actually served coffee. I digress.

On a pretty busy thoroughfare called McKinney Avenue in the middle of Dallas, Texas was a little place called the Rubaiyat. It was longer/deeper than wider and didn’t look like much of anything. There was some sort of counter/office area in the front where you could pay your money to get in and I think a restroom or two and a small kitchen in the back. I remember pitchers of beer. But even more I remember music.

I think the owner/manager’s name was Bob Johnston and I may have even met him once. I think he was a pretty big deal in the folk music scene. But to call what emanated from the Rubaiyat “folk” limits it greatly.

The Rubaiyat was almost always crowded. I don’t remember it costing very much to get in – I think cover charges were around $2 – 3 but remember now this is the late 60s and early 70s.

I don’t even know how we (more about “we” later) found this place but I guess college-age students had a pretty good grapevine even in the days before MySpace.

I can’t even begin to list everyone who played there because I couldn’t afford to go all that often but I’ll bet we went once or twice a month at least – usually on a Friday or Saturday night.

The “we” part. I had two real close buddies and we thought we just might be big stars. So we played lots of guitar and tried to do our own covers of the hits of the day – John Denver, the Eagles, America – mostly main-stream stuff.

The Rubaiyat was never main-stream but some pretty main-stream people passed through.

I first heard Mickey Raphael there. Who is Mickey Raphael? If you follow Willie Nelson you know he is his harmonica player and I’d put him up against Stevie Wonder as the best that ever was. If memory serves, he started playing for B.W. Stevenson, aka “Buckwheat” long before his hit “My Maria.” People hear that song now and think Brooks & Dunn wrote it. BW played and wrote “Texas Morning”, “Say what I feel” and many more.

Back in the 80s I was working on the east coast and a show I worked on had Willie Nelson on as a guest. I’m always intimidated by celebs so like to find a common point of reference to start up the conversation. Something beyond “Like, wow, love your music, man.” So I bumped into Willie in the hall and for some reason BW popped into my head and I asked about him. Little did I know he had passed away. He was a big guy and maybe weight or a weak heart or something. But he had a sweet voice.

At the Rubaiyat the worst seat in the house was not very far from the stage. It might not be an exaggeration to say we could see the calluses on the fingers of the people playing guitar.

A not-quite-so-young man named Michael Murphey (now aka Michael Martin Murphey of Cowboy music fame.) played there often and would even play a BW song or two. This was in the days before “Wildfire”. Michael Murphey’s songs included “What am I doing hanging ‘round”, “Geronimo’s Cadillac.” I think MMM was also my counselor at a week-long camp in north Texas in the early 60s. And now he is close friends with some friends of ours who help him put on his Cowboy Christmas shows here every year.

Larry Groce. Our local public radio station used to air his Mountain Stage program every Saturday night. Back in the 70s I saw him play there once or twice. I had the same music teacher as Larry (and many others) in junior high-school; Jeanne Brown at W.E. Greiner.

Another regular – who later became “regulars”, was Robin Williams – no not the comedian/actor guy. But the Robin of Robin and Linda Williams that frequently appear on Prairie Home Companion. Robin came in with his own sweet voice and fancy guitar licks and we’d sit and soak it all up. When he announced he was getting married and then brought his new bride Linda along – we were initially disappointed. I think she did change his style and sound but eventually we grew to like both of them.

I have a Robin Williams story. One of my guitar buds and me were at a music store on the north side of Dallas, taking guitars down, playing a chord or two and putting them back up. And down the aisle was Robin. So we walked up, started talking, mentioned the Rubaiyat etc. He told us he was going to play a “House Concert” at his dad’s house in Dallas and why didn’t we come over that night. My friend couldn’t come but I got directions and showed up. It was a great evening of music and fun with about 20-30 people crammed into his dad’s house. I saw him again in Springfield years later when he was playing a “paying” house concert and he even remembered the thing at his dad’s.

I’ll bet there were dozens more who played there. Some may have even gotten their starts at the Rubaiyat.

Willis Allan Ramsay played (before the Captain and Tenille got hold of Muscrat Love). Townes Van Zandt. I’m sure other names will come back to mind before long. I think Asleep at the Wheel may have played there but I have no idea how all of them would fit on the Rubaiyat’s small stage – wasn’t even a stage as I recall but just a short carpeted riser to put the performers just a little higher than the audience.

Steve Fromholz wrote one of the most touching songs that evokes mid-west Texas. Actually it’s three songs – Texas Trilogy. Fromholz was another regular. I recall him being alone but his group was called Frummox so there must have been somebody else. He’s still alive and kicking. I found him on the internet looking up song lyrics and trying to track down another performer. He emailed back but I don’t think he remembered me.

Russ Kirkpatrick. Anybody have any clue where he ended up? I learned one of his songs, “Timothy Tucker” but have since lost some the lyrics and can’t find it anywhere. No offense to the others mentioned but I think he was our favorite of all those we saw. Pretty good picker but more of a chord guy with good lyrics and voice. We always tended to like the people we could play along with.

Sometime in the early 70s the Rubaiyat moved. I imagine it was to get more space so they could book bigger acts and therefore make better money. The one on McKinney had to be a labor of love.

It was never the same. The newer place was on Lemmon Avenue. This was still near downtown but no longer in a funky neighborhood and there were tons of used car lots in the area. But it did allow for more business and indeed bigger acts.

I can’t pin-point the year but I actually took a date (“we” hardly ever took dates to the Rubaiyat – it was always about the music) once to see a little known comic named Steve Martin. SNL was not on the air yet and he spent a good deal of his performance with the arrow-thing through his head and he played a lot of banjo – pretty good picker.

One thing that was very different about this type of music and place is that often you couldn’t find the performers music. Most of these acts (MMM excluded and BW later) were not on a label so the only way to hear them was live in small places. Radio would play little if any of this style of music. Record stores – that’s what they called them back then – usually didn’t have this stuff either. And records were so expensive to produce that few acts ever showed up with anything to sell. I bought a couple over the years but mostly just listened live.

The Rubaiyat will always be my favorite music place. Up close and personal. The performers played mostly their own tunes and talked to the audience. Sometimes between sets they’d come down to sit and chat and act just like real people.

Sullen in Chicago

2008-12-10T12:30:00.005-06:00

Following a link on the web to the Chicago Sun Times. Everybody has a little weather widget but this one has an attitude. Maybe I would have one too if my gov was Blago.

(there is supposed to be a little sun gif-thing that goes here but it wouldn't upload)
24°F
Partly Sunny
Weather: SULLEN

Sullen? Not sure how Partly Sunny and Sullen go together. Must be a meteorological term.

Zero Percent

2008-12-10T12:11:00.003-06:00

I heard this morning on the radio (and saw a headline later re same) that U.S Treasury bills are earning 0% - that's ZERO! That is itself weird but ... people are investing! Huh? All I can think of is the parable of the talents where the 3rd wicked and slothful servant hid his master's money in the ground and then gave it all back to him safe and sound.

Seems investors are worried about massive losses so having a safe (albeit very low returning) investment is better than suffering big losses.

I was in no way prescient about the market but several months ago I moved all my retirement funds (meager though they are) into a fund paying between 4 & 5 %. It is supposed to be pretty secure. The returns will never go much higher than that but likewise they aren't supposed to go lower. I was tired of riding the market up and down - mostly down and my quarterly statements showing me how much I had lost. I think they call it stopping the bleeding. I know I took an immediate hit once I sold some of the mutual funds but that's it. I should be done and have some assurance that in a few more years when I finally can retire (Yippee! 2014 is my target year right now.) there will be a little bitty nest-egg to use for something.

How come the wise people on Wall St. (ooops, I forgot!) can't at least find someplace better than 0%? I realize it is good for the U.S. Treasury to get some cheap cash right now but this doesn't make any sense from the other side.

Diamond Dog Food

2008-12-09T13:21:00.002-06:00

Just a note about a recent price increase. I’ve been a loyal customer of Diamond even thru the times when they had some issues and my feed store manager was recommending something else. I’ve been buying Diamond for at least 15 years or more.

Last week I went back to buy another bag and the price had gone up from $14.95 for a 40# bag to $19.95. of course I asked the feed store people and they simply said the supplier raised the price.

Two big questions: with most commodity prices down and fuel prices way down, why the increase? Secondly in this economy – recession/depression (you pick) – it seems extremely counter-productive to raise prices when people are losing homes and jobs and obviously pets and non-income producing animals are going to be expendable at some point or level when things grow even tighter.

I just don’t understand an increase – especially a 30% or so (my math may be fuzzy but) jump.

I buy about 4 bags each month and usually buy at the same location – Race Brothers in Springfield, MO as they are one of two places I can get it on my side of town.

If I knew of a good dog food with similar components at a reasonable price, I'd switch.

Big Adult Decisions

2008-11-26T12:45:00.003-06:00

I'm heading to Dallas for the coming Thanksgiving weekend but this is not the "over-the-river-and thru-the-woods" sort of Holiday scene coming up.

As noted previously my father is 86 and his wife (my step-mom but I've never thought of her in that way as she married my father after I left home) are both struggling with the waning years of their lives.

My father is in pretty fair shape but at 86 that is relative. He has a very bad back and fought cancer twice, two heart attacks so he's had his share of physical troubles. His wife just had a hip replacement due to a break. The bigger issue here is her advancing Alzheimers (or dementia - I confess I don't know the medical or psychological difference between the two) which is making care for her difficult.

So her oldest son (about my age) and I plan to get together and see what we can do to help. I can't say I know what my father is feeling but I can guess. He's coming (or not) to grips with the loss of independence. Realizing he can no longer physically or emotionally care for his wife of some 30 years. But like so many of us, he's in some stage of denial about her condition, his own physical limits and making the hard, very hard choices about what to do next.

I've never been nervous about a visit home before but I don't exactly know what to do or say. I don't have any great answers for this one. I may have some OK ideas but how do you know when it is time to tell your father, "Dad, I/we insist that you ..." and put some teeth or muscle behind that and make some things happen. How do you know when it is finally time to step completely out from under his authority and turn-the-tables so to speak and begin telling him what to do?

I don't know where the book is that tells you how to handle these types of situations. And Thanksgiving is not supposed to be the time to do this sort of thing. I just know this is what I'm supposed to do - Go. And then when I get there hopefully I'll find some answers.

Thanks for any guidance and of course your prayers.

Change?

2008-11-23T17:48:00.003-06:00

I can't take credit for the idea here, I'm merely using the ability of the internet as a tool to pass things along.

In Barb Nicolosi's blog (which if you are interested in faith and the arts - especially the intersection of movies and our faith - you should check her out.)

Look at this list of name: CHANGE?

Joe Biden, VP; Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State; Rahm Emmanuel, Chief of Staff;
Tom Daschle, Sec of Health and Human Services. If these people represent "change" as promised by Obama ... this sounds more like "the usual suspects."

Maybe I’m becoming a liberal

2008-11-19T13:02:00.002-06:00

OK not on many things and I hope not on the core important things but I was watching a movie earlier this week with my daughter (the hippie chick one!)

She got the Visitor.

An interesting movie and I guess any movie that makes you think about your positions, opinions etc. can’t be all bad. Sometimes we just have our mind-sets re-confirmed and other times it does one of those “stretching” things where our mind takes on a slightly new shape.

Maybe the Visitor did that. For those who haven’t seen it I won’t reveal any spoilers here.

One issue that didn’t end up (overtly at least) playing a big role in the campaign for POTUS was immigration.

Maybe because it has become the new 3rd rail of politics – replacing Social Security of years gone by. What is going to replace Social Security as the years go by anyway?
I used to live in a border state and from my earliest days I recall the impact of immigration.

My first brush was in the early 60s, which if memory serves me correctly, a large influx of Cuban immigrants ended up in Texas. We had one in our school. Surprisingly enough I can still recall his name – Raul Hernandez. I also remember he was big and tall and by High School ended up being a lineman on our football team.
At the same time he entered our school we were just beginning to hear the rumblings in integration – this was the south remember – and then added to this was the influx of new people of another skin color.

I wish I remembered how I felt or treated him but I really don’t but I digress again.
Every time I return home to Dallas I am reminded of how immigration is changing our country and how I don’t really know or understand how I feel about it.

The Visitor didn’t resolve all my issues; it just got me to thinking about it again. And I guess I need something new to think about.

The basic story revolves around a couple of young Muslim immigrants and what happens to them. I can’t imagine the conditions under which people would risk their lives or livelihoods to come here. I also can’t imagine what happens when they confront the faceless bureaucracy of our government. Before anyone over-reacts, I’m not about releasing potential or possible terrorists from Gitmo or similar facilities but I also wonder how many accidentals; people who managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and with the added burden of the wrong skin color or religion and ended up in something akin to the vast warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark; a place where people we don’t know how to handle go to wither and die.

I can’t say much more without spoiling what is a tender, sad, thoughtful movie. It is rated PG-13 although I have no idea why. My daughter caught a couple of F-bombs early but honestly; if I didn’t hear them (OK I don’t hear anything anymore!) … Beyond this possible exception for language, it should not offend anybody.

Sad, strange and true.

2008-11-12T12:27:00.003-06:00

This is not going to be an uplifting entry but it happened yesterday so I'd like to write it while fresh and perhaps to get it out of my head.

Tuesday was Vets Day - THANKS TO ALL OF YOU EVERYWHERE; ESPECIALLY MY DAD! - so I was home and able to walk the dogs early. They are always snuffling about in the grass and sometimes they come back smelling pretty bad!

This morn we crested a small rise in our pasture and they stopped in their tracks. I began looking for what might have spooked them and quickly saw a large deer just ahead and to my left - maybe 25 feet away. It only took a quick second to realize this buck was not going anywhere.

Somehow the poor fellow had impaled himself on a t-post. (For you non-farmers, a t-post is a steel fence post formed in the shape of a "t") All I can figure is he was jumping the fence in the dark and didn't quite make it over and came down on the post. I found him hanging their - quite dead of course.

The dogs of course were curious so it took some coaxing to get them to move on. I was in a hurry so couldn't do anything about him at that moment.

Later in the day I removed him from the post so he wouldn't have to hang there forever. He was an 8-point buck and I guess weighed maybe 125 pounds or more. A pretty big guy - at least he felt like it trying to move him around. We sort of have an animal graveyard off the beaten path so I drug him there. We long ago gave up digging holes to bury all our dead animals. When you raise them, death happens and you have to handle it in the most efficient way possible.

We will survive

2008-11-04T22:21:00.006-06:00

I remember in 1992 when Clinton beat Bush 41 and the thinking was, "It's over." I'm not saying it was good but we muddled through Monica and a couple of "-gates".

It is not so apparent to everyone but the 1992 election also brought us the 1994 "Contract with America" which allowed the GOP to take control of the House and keep Clinton on the defensive for some time. It was far from perfect but it helped the GOP come together on a national level. Maybe after everybody licks there wounds ...

Now that it is over, (OK officially it isn't - the fat lady hasn't sung yet but she is in the wings and ready to come on stage) the GOP needs to takes lessons learned from watching Obama's success at getting out the vote, energizing people, getting them excited. When was the last time anyone was excited about a Republican nominee for President? Try 1988 and Ronald Reagan. Look back at the years, Bush, Dole, another Bush, then McCain. I'll give McCain lots of credit for a good game but nobody in that list was exciting.

We shouldn't elect a President based on that factor any more than we should based on how much money a candidate raises. But it is a modern fact-of-life that those things matter to some (OK lots of) people. The GOP needs to start grooming younger candidates, they need a farm club equivalent for young Republicans. Someplace they can go and learn the ropes, how to run campaigns, start to win state-level races and work their way up through the ranks.

Or maybe if enough young people have not found a home in the GOP, they will have enough critical mass to start an effective 3rd party. The mainstream media keep talking about the huge number of independents. I heard CNN use a figure as high as 30%. I don't believe that but I guess the number is growing.

A final thought. I won't be good at this but I shared with a group of friends on Monday that what we can do Wednesday morning is pray. The Bible says (first Timothy 2:2) to pray for our leaders (OK it really says "those in authority".) William Bennett said tonight on CNN that he would pray for Obama. If we believe what we say we believe, we should too.

I just went outside a little while ago to look at the stars - they are just really something in the cool fall night air, but while outside I did pray for Obama and confessed in my prayer that I would not do this well but I think it is what we are supposed to do. And when we consider the vastness of the stars, and who made them, our little troubles here on earth seem pretty tiny.

Last words on the election

2008-11-04T12:36:00.003-06:00

The voting is about half-over and I'd like to get some things out before the results are in.

I still think we are in for a landslide for Obama.

Months ago I suggested McCain agree to run only for one term. Today I heard Paul Begala say that if McCain had done that, the outcome might be different. Remember where you heard that first!

Palin - while I was happy with the choice on some levels, she has not helped. She only kept some folks in the GOP camp who were unhappy with McCain. I don't think she brought new people in. She just gave the existing "choir" something new to sing about. If Hillary was the opponent, then Palin would have helped more. Against Obama, she has not helped and this may be more the fault of the party people who told McCain how to run his campaign. I think when this is all over, people will say Palin cost McCain a chance but I think those who managed her will be more at fault than her own lack of experience and verbal stumbles along the way.

I hope that before we do this again, things change with the way we elect our President. If the founding fathers had known about negative ads, attack ads, direct mail, robo-calling (add your own favorite to this list), they'd have written things differently. It may have come from a Jim Carrey movie but I'd like a balloon to follow every candidate around and when they stray from the truth, it lights up and says "Liar, liar!" Same for the media - if they twist a position to make a point about their favorite, the same balloon should light up.

People criticize Obama for using so much money (I heard $700 million) to run. McCain on the other hand took a bunch of our money using Federal matching dollars or however that system works. I think the funding issue needs to be looked at again. I don't see why we should pay in one way or another for somebody to run for office. But I also don't think one single euro or piaster or drachma should be allowed to make into the coffers of any candidate. I think some of the campaign finance laws are stupid. But there should be plenty of ways to prohibit foreign money from getting into the mix. If we can track bad meat all the way back to a farm in some state through tagging etc. to keep our food supply safe, surely we can track money coming in to a political campaign. Plus I think $700 million is obscene.

Regardless of the final outcome, I'll be glad when it is over.

Older part II

2008-11-04T12:10:00.003-06:00

Not trying to be maudlin but I spent the weekend either in a car or in-and-out of nursing homes and this has made me think even more about so-called end-of-life issues.

I'm not about to weigh in on euthanasia or anything close to that.

My father is 86 and doing OK. He has some physical issues but for that age, I'd say he is doing pretty well. His wife, who technically is my step-mother - although I've never really thought of her that way since she and my dad married after I left home - is not doing so well.

She broke her hip a few weeks ago and had hip-replacement surgery. From that specifically she seems to be recovering quite well. But several months ago we noticed some lapses in her memory. My dad only recently began to acknowledge this. When we arrived this weekend, on our first trip to see her, she didn't recognize us and didn't want us in her room. Over the course of three days she sometimes remembered us, often did not but even during moments of lucidity had to ask over and over again who we were etc. I guess you can recognize the symptoms.

The nursing home she is in for now is nice, in fact rated #1 by Fortune Magazine. I had no idea they rated such things! But every hallway and the waiting room, lobbies, lounges etc. were filled with folks usually sitting in their wheel-chairs or just parked in a chair or in some cases aimlessly walking around. Some obviously had more than just physical issues to deal with.

Later we ventured to Arkansas where I have a 96 year old uncle also in a nursing home. He is mostly blind, can't walk, barely eats but his mind seems as sharp as ever. But with bad eyesight and very little hearing, even some simple pleasures like listening to music or watching TV are out of his reach. We had a good chat and apart from the fact that he either just sits in a chair until he gets tired or lays in his bed, he seems to be doing OK.

Quality of life is a dangerous term and just as I don't want anybody else defining my quality of life, I won't attempt to define or judge anybody else's.

What this has got me to thinking about in earnest since I am approaching my 56th anniversary of arrival on earth, is what will the latter years of my own life be like?

I've heard this line used so often it is a cliche but "I don't want to be a burden to anybody," really hit me much harder this weekend. I'm not saying any of my family are a burden. My dad is taking care of himself and his wife so far and I have a cousin who looks after my uncle. So I don't say that from a position of being bothered.

I worry about my own children and what they will end up having to do for me when I need physical or mental care on some level that I am not able to handle on my own. My oldest daughter just got out on her own with her new husband and I can't imagine her having to travel back here to take care of me or my wife. I know she would do it in a heartbeat without complaint.

Nothing profound to say, no decisions reached - just realizing the future realities we all face. I'll be doing more thinking on this.

election stuff to peruse

2008-10-30T14:08:00.002-06:00

just a few things of interest:

If you go to http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Missouri_2008_ballot_measures and click on the name of the ballot issue, it will give you more information about who is funding the campaign as well as arguments both for and against the issues.

Another link:

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/w hos-ahead/polling/index.html.

You can look at dozens of different polls on the election - national and state results

last one - http://americanpast.richmond.edu/voting/state level.html look at results for almost all the Presidential elections.

a CH diet

2008-10-30T11:25:00.005-06:00

sitting at lunch yesterday with some of my co-workers and this idea hit me: a diet of things that start with the letters CH.

Here's just a partial list:

Chicken, chili, cheese, chips, chocolate, Chinese - probably enough to go on right there but there are more:

chimichangas
chalupas
cherry pie &/or cobbler or cherry tomato
Chablis or Champagne or Chardonnay or Chenin Blanc or Chianti
Cheerios
cheeseburgers
chess pie
chestnuts
chick peas
chicory
chives

I'll bet there are more but this is quite a list and if asked to survive eating only these foods; I'd make it just fine. (Might have to ad lib and allow "chocolate milk"!

and charcoal to cook some of this.

We are getting old.

2008-10-20T19:31:00.002-06:00

Not to be morose but of late my extended family is aging and getting sicker.

I have an uncle in his 90s who is bedridden in a nursing home and can't really do anything but eat and when they prop him up in a chair he can sit for awhile.

My dad is 86 and OK but weak from trying to care for his wife who just had a hip-replacement. He's only able to spend about an hour a day with her at the hospital. She also is beginning to show some Alzheimers which is making things doubly hard on my dad.

One detail that makes this harder to accept is how very large my dad's family (all my aunts and uncles) used to be. There were 12 at one time all living. My grandmother died in 1970 and then one by one her children have died off leaving only 4 - my dad, his brother James mentioned above, an aunt Amy in her 90s and aunt Ida Mae in her late 70s or maybe early 80s. One of the saddest things is as each one died, hardly any of the the surviving brothers or sisters were able to attend the funerals.

I know that all this awaits my own children someday but I'd like to spare them the heartache, the hard work and whatever else goes along with growing old. But I know we'll do what we need to do and so will they.

And the world will spin around a few more times.

Future Farmers of America

2008-10-17T13:35:00.002-06:00

When I was in high school, even though as a City boy at the time, we thought of anyone wearing one of the denim jackets with the gold FFA symbol embroidered on the back as; kickers. There was usually another word in front of that but you can guess.

Secretly though, I admired those jackets – even wanted one for many reasons.

40-something odd years later I find myself a sort-of farmer although I like the term rancher better. To me farmer says “row crops” and things you grow and rancher says things you raise. Right now we aren’t raising anything but kids and dogs, but I digress.

The editor of Ozarks Farm and Neighbor, for whom I write, asked me to attend a local Beef conference. I went, listened, ate well (very nice prime rib – what would you expect?) and came away with this observation: I can’t do the math but the average age of the 160+ attendees was older than I am (55 and fast approaching 56!) There were a few younger couples but most of the folks were my age and older.
One of the presenters showed a chart revealing that even though prices aren’t great and the economy is in shambles, one bright spot for beef producers is we – the U.S. – are exporting more beef than we import. And this for only the second year in the last 20 or so that his chart covered.

But if the people in the room are an indication, this trend will swing back the other way unless there starts to be many more kids wearing those cool FFA jackets again. I see them – my daughter was in FFA for 2 years. But I don’t see lots of them. Who is going to produce the beef for us to eat in a few years?

Another simplistic observation that shows my total lack of economic knowledge: doesn’t it make some sense that if I’m shipping out so many tons of beef to countries around the world but some of those countries ship back almost as many tons of beef – what if some of it just stayed where it was? Imagine the reduced shipping, packing, storage costs? Reminds me of the C.S Lewis comment about “being sixpence none the richer;” if I give you sixpence so you can buy me something as a gift, I’m “none the richer” once you give it back. We may have a net gain in exports versus imports but what about the cost? Some bright MBA will have to explain that one to me.

But the long term issue seems to be how do we encourage more young people to go into or stay in farming and ranching? My oldest daughter and her husband raise cattle in Montana but what will keep them at it? And for how long? And if they stop – where will our next pound of beef come from? Well in my case I know – our freezer because we raised it ourselves and will continue to do so as long as we have some land and grass.

Which party is good for business?

2008-10-08T11:32:00.002-06:00

In one of my other lives I occasionally write for a local business publication and in that I get to interview various business owners and the like. I really enjoy meeting people and getting an insider's look at their business.

Yesterday I met with a young man who runs a very successful business selling safety equipment and information for other businesses. (Once the article has been published I have some interesting insights to share about how Google works that I picked up on in our interview. Check back soon.) He basically helps them comply with OSHA and the myriad of regulations that govern businesses and hopefully protect workers.

He leans Republican in his politics and appreciates that they typically are more business friendly. He feels however that a Democratic administration would likely have more impact and improve his business since typically more legislation, more regulation etc. are likely - i.e. bigger government. So that is good for his business.

I've never thought about this sort of paradox before.

It's All Over But the Counting

2008-10-08T11:07:00.002-06:00

Call me a pessimist, call me a realist, call me premature but I think this election is over.

Early reports from last night's debate support this for me.

I don't know what John McCain can do to turn this thing around. Every time I see him on TV he reminds me of Bob Dole and if you are old enough to remember Bob Dole, he gamely tried to oust then Pres. Clinton from office back in 1996. The score? Try 379 to 159. How about 31 states in the blue column and 19 in the red. Can you spell landslide?

Many of my conservative friends may think I've gone to the dark side. I simply see this as a lost cause. Maybe, just maybe, Palin could have helped to right the sinking ship but since the experts have seen fit to have her attempt to be something she is not (experienced on Foreign Policy to name one) she spends most of her time trying to explain things she doesn't have the knowledge or experience to do. I think she was a great choice, is most likely a great person and would serve our country well but ... a lost opportunity.

Conservatives are often accused of being one issue voters - abortion - which leads - stop and do not pass go - right to the Supreme Court and many will weep and wail over the lost opportunity to have McCain appoint any new justices.

But the reality is, even if any of the oldest and more liberal justices were to retire, the voting make-up of those who confirm would stall or pre-empt most of McCain's candidates and it has not been proven that McCain would appoint justices who would be acceptable in every way to conservatives anyway. That would remain to be seen.

On the other hand Obama will likely get three appointments during his first four years - Stevens is 88, Ginsburg is 75 but not in great health and Breyer is 70. So what if Obama gets to appoint their respective replacements? The overall make-up and balance of the court does not change.

Lewinsky, Travelgate, Vince Foster, Hillary - all notwithstanding - we survived 8 years of Clinton. I'm sure we can survive 4 years of Obama. Sorry 'bout that.

The Assassination of Jesse James

2008-10-06T14:12:00.002-06:00

Late to the party but we just watched this, this weekend. First reaction – way too long, not very good, kind of odd BUT …

It is a GREAT LOOKING movie. Roger Deakins, the cinematographer did some really neat things. Lots of interesting shots and angles. Beautiful landscapes and scenery. I enjoyed these parts a lot.

Soundtrack – odd juxtaposition in that the score is nothing like what I’d expect from a sort-of western (what else would you call a movie about Jesse James?) set in the 1880s in Missouri. But it sounds really good also.

When you have lots of narration, which this movie does, it may mean the screenplay was lacking and they had to say all this stuff they couldn’t show (If they had tried to show it all, this movie would have gone on forever!) but I really liked the narrator – Hugh Ross. No idea what else he has done or who he is but I liked his style and diction.

For a bigger budget movie, I thought most of the gun-shots sounded like toy cap guns. Who knows – maybe shells in the late 1800s didn’t have much gunpowder but whenever there was gunfire, it sounded small No ooomph.

And one scene of gunfire was strange. Two guys in a bedroom firing away at each other –we are talking almost point-blank range and when all is said and done, each of them barely wounds the other? And these guys rode with Jesse James?

And Brad Pitt? He’s certainly not afraid to shed his pretty boy image. Since Jesse was killed at the young age of 34 – maybe someone younger should have played this part. But I'll give him credit for a pretty convincing slam against the wall when he got shot.

If you want to watch something different; that it is. But be prepared to invest a chunk of time.

Playing possum

2008-10-04T17:48:00.003-06:00

Last week I was getting things in and out of a small shed in our back-back yard. I made several trips when I pulled a box off a shelf and tucked behind it was a possum who made a snarling sort of face at me.

I tried to encourage him/her out of the shed with no luck. After several pokes I began to notice a very strong smell. He/she had ... - well you know. As GW Bush would have said "dookie."

Needless to say the stubborn possum met his/her eventual demise but I guess he/she got me worse as the smell was still there today when I began to clean out the shed.

I mentioned this to someone and they said "what do you expect from an animal that eats dead things?

Now I know. And let's put it this way, what possums leave behind smells worse than anything I've ever smelled.

Travel stories

2008-10-02T09:22:00.002-06:00

Returning from Atlanta (Sept. 20) during which I realized I like traveling by plane – less and less. Some observations:

First – rude TSA folks – actually ONE TSA folk in Atlanta. Standing in line barefooted waiting for my shoes to come out of the x-ray thing. The line is jammed up because the guy in front of me apparently has some suspiciously-shaped thing in a bag so the radiologist was taking his/her sweet time reviewing the picture. Meanwhile people are piling up in the narrow line to wait for our shoes etc.

The TSA fellow started asking then he came close to yelling for everyone to please move down. None of us could move because the guy in front of me was waiting for his now overly radiated bag. We couldn’t go anywhere and if there is one thing I know about airports and security these days – don’t go anywhere you aren’t supposed to. The TSA is like the IRS – shoot first and ask questions later. Except I didn’t see any guns. Tasers maybe?

But the guy wouldn’t move and the TSA guy would never simply address him directly but rather voiced his command louder and louder over the entire helpless group.

Ob. #2 – ubiquitous texting. Once on the plane I sat next to a young woman who spent most of her time rapidly moving her fingers over a miniscule keypad of her blackberry-like device. Obviously texting someone. The odd thing is she would text – seconds later would come the reply, she’d stand up (no easy task with the baggage area overhead), turn around and holler something to her text-mate in the rear of the plane. This went on until the flight attendant told everyone to please turn off all electronic devices.

Ob. #3 – once we landed in Springfield we had to wait for a few minutes before we could de-plane. Two guys in front of me both had i-Phones. Each one of them was checking local weather. Here’s the odd thing – one i-Phone said it was 63 degrees and the other said 67. We talk about how quickly the weather can change in Missouri but I didn’t think it would be that different, that fast!

Copied musings

2008-09-28T20:00:00.002-06:00

I am far from understanding where we are, how we got here and what we should do about the Wall St. mess. On one hand if the Govt. can buy up these failing companies for pennies on the dollar and gain equity, turn them around and possibly make some money - then it sounds like a plan. On the other hand I heard this in answer to the question - "Where will the $700 billion come from? Answer - the feds will just print more money." That doesn't seem like a good idea especially when apparently the folks holding the bag on a bunch of bad loans are actually China and some other foreign countries who have been investing in our economy. If I put my money in risky investments and they do poorly, woe is me. But I guess if you are big enough and you do the same ... Sort of like heads you win and tails you win.

And I found this in poking around on the web today:

BONO ON THE BAILOUT.

"It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases."

Life imitates spam?

2008-09-24T11:20:00.002-06:00

this is a forward of a forward so I have no idea who to credit or acknowledge but read and weep or laugh - depending on where your money is at the moment:

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 700 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you. I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe. This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance.

My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred. Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commissionfor this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully,

Minister of Treasury Paulson

diversity

2008-09-17T19:25:00.000-06:00

Atlanta used to represent the old south perhaps as much or more than maybe any other southern city. I'm in Atlanta and have noticed one striking thing - and maybe it is only striking because I live in lily-white-bread Springfield. I happen to also be listening to Tom Friedman's audio book - The World Is Flat.

I rode on an elevator today with 5 guys from India who all work locally for Sun Trust which I guess is a big southern bank. At the hotel check-in I met a young lady from Germany, then a young man from Malaysia then another young lady from Germany during my repeated trips to get my room.

At lunch at Chick-Fil-A, I sat next to a woman from China.

Lots of accents and skins of different colors and this is not New York or LA - this is Atlanta.

I guess the melting pot is alive and well.

We don't see much of this in Springburg.

One final note - had dinner at the Hard Rock cafe because I may be the only person who has never been to one. I was also surprised that I was not part of the older crowd there. Most of the people were older than me. And I don't think it was anyone's birthday party. Final thought - they played videos on screens all over the room - most of which were old. We're talking Metalllica, Elvis (Yes, Elvis!) and plenty of other old looking videos. I have no idea why.

You don't see that everyday!

2008-09-14T21:38:00.002-06:00

Nothing profound here but living in the country like we do provides the occasional odd sight. I took my two littlest ones to a park today in our county seat of Greenfield. I did an interview with a family from there last week and they mentioned they had a really nice park in town. So the kids wanted to check it out today - we did. Nice park - lots of green space, walking trail etc. and two tennis courts. And here's the odd siting:

Two boys and a man were playing tennis. The man, probably about 40 or so wore jeans, tennis shoes and a big cowboy hat. I've been playing tennis since I was 10 and much of that in Texas where cowboy hats are part of the uniform but I've never seen anyone play tennis in a cowboy hat. To top it off, he wasn't too bad. Had pretty decent serve and could cover the court well.

Only in our little part of rural America!

Who's paying for what?

2008-09-05T11:20:00.003-06:00

Over the last two weeks I've overdosed on the two conventions although I really didn't watch much of either. I probably spent more time listening or watching people talk about them. And one thing kept annoying me to no end.

Seems like the conventions were NOT held respectively in Denver and St. Paul but rather at Invesco field (for the last evening of the DNC) and the Xcel Energy Center.

I understand naming rights - companies fork over major money to get their name plastered all over the plaster. But is there some protocol that says you can't simply tell people where an event is taking place without giving a plug? How come almost everyone I heard never simply said "Here in Denver at the DNC" or "I'm in St. Paul right now ..."

I found this which at least says I'm not the only one who might like the old names. Reminds me of the dust-up I heard about re: Wrigley Field in Chicago since they may lose the rights to keep calling it that if someone else wants to pay more.

For me somehow that is different. In my lifetime at least Wrigley has always been Wrigley - the home of the Cubs. But these new stadiums that cost more than the GNP of most countries, don't deserve the status and respect of an institution like Wrigley. You'd never say simply the Cubs versus the Giants in Chicago - you have to say Wrigley because it matters.

But no one cares where the conventions meet - it should be enough to say the City and leave it at that. My two cents for today which won't by me the naming rights for anywhere!

The Best Man for the Job

2008-09-04T11:07:00.004-06:00

in this case just may be a woman. I watched - as did probably millions of others - Sarah Palin's first major speech last night. I think she did pretty well but I'm already concerned with something and have even had discussions with co-workers about it this morning. And that is what her role should really be.

The traditional assumption is that the VP goes on the attack against the opposing Pres. candidate. Where did that concept come from in the first place? Doesn't make sense to me. If it did then we should have Joe Biden debate McCain and Obama debate Palin.

I've been to a couple of seminars with management guru John Maxwell and one thing he says that goes against the conventional wisdom is that we often focus on our weakness and work really hard to try to make it better/faster/stronger. He goes the other way. Example - you may be an average runner but not really fast. And you have to run a triathlon or something so you spend all this time training to run faster. You might even improve your time but how much? At at what expense? What if you get injured? And what about the other two events? Have you cut back on training for them? Maxwell advises to focus on your strengths. Work to make them even better and stronger.

Now back to Palin. Does she have foreign policy experience? She will need some briefings to make sure she knows how to pronounce the names of the world leaders but does she need to know - RIGHT NOW - how to solve the problems between Israel and its neighbors? She ought to know there are problems still brewing in Georgia and with Russia and that the capital is not Athens but rather Tbilisi. But beyond that no one expects her to come up with the Nobel winning solution for these and many other large problems.

Right now her job is to help McCain get elected. And I think the GOP and others will waste a valuable resource if the focus is on her being attack dog against Obama. She can't talk much about experience even if on paper she might actually have more. That will backfire or at best waste time. She needs to stay away from the "I will fight the lobbyists," line since she has her own track record on this.

What can she do? Everyone agrees she can energize the conservatives in the way McCain couldn't or won't. She may be able to connect with independent women and even some democratic women. But I don't think she does that buy attacking Obama. I think she does that by saying and showing that she is a woman, a mother, a person with a career and family to juggle. She's not obviously rich. I think she can identify and relate to many many women. Not card-carrying members of NOW or NARAL (or whatever they call themselves these days) but the average woman out there trying to make ends meet, struggling with her kids, balancing a checkbook in the line at Wal-Mart to make sure there is enough.

Hillary was shrill. Palin is comfortable.

I hope they don't put her out on the stump trying to explain every little detail about McCain's health care plan and why it will finally solve all our problems while Obama's won't. Just let her talk about how she cares about health care and she will be an advocate in the White House for those who struggle with high costs and no insurance and possibly no access to proper medical care. Just relate to people and tell them we will work on it and that she will make this a priority. Don't try to solve it all now. I think one mistake all politicians make is telling us exactly how they will fix this or that when in reality even the President can only do so much.

I guess bottom line I hate to see her get spoiled. I'm afraid all the handlers will tell her exactly what to say, when and where and how to say it. If McCain truly picked her as a kindred spirit then leave her alone. She'll probably make some mistakes and say some things wrong. But let her speak as herself on things she knows about.

Find out what her strengths really are, what issues she really cares about and focus on those.

the Veep-stakes

2008-09-02T11:08:00.003-06:00

Of course the news for the next few days will be dominated by Mrs. Palin's disclosure of her pregnant daughter. I'm not going to talk here about that and whether it does or should have made any difference in McCain's choice.

The main topic is the idea that the VP is one-heartbeat away from the Presidency.

Is she ready to take over the country? Of course not.

But listening to Imus interview Tom Friedman today I was struck by a couple of comments:

One had to do with Biden. If in one or more primary races for the Democratic nod in years past, he has never mustered enough votes to continue, should we take that into consideration as to what most people wanted - especially Democrats since they were the only ones voting? I mean if a majority of Democrats never felt like he should be President, should the rest of the country now accept or assume he will be OK?

Of course not - that's not how it works.

Biden brings a lot to the ticket and he fills in some blanks. Does America want him as their President too? I doubt it. (At least 18 million of them wanted - and may STILL want Hillary!) This is all political.

The second comment was about Presidential decision making. The main thing we want in a President is for him/her to be surrounded by people who are very smart and wise and experienced. The test, according to Mr. Friedman, is what does the President do when those experts disagree.

I honestly don't know much about Palin yet - I know more about her teenage daughter so what does that say about the media's infatuation with scandal?

I still take Palin for exactly what she is and what the decision was. McCain desperately needed a nudge that Ridge, Pawlenty or no one else was going to give. Lieberman would have alienated too many party faithful. He could have gone with Carla Fiorina, former HP chair if he wanted to shake things up too but they would have really torn her up over her tenure at HP!

Is Palin the absolute best person for this job? Probably not. But is she good enough and does she bring something to the campaign? Of course.

This stage is about winning an election - not running the country. It's also about 2012. I have no doubts that should Obama lose, he will not run again. But I am certain Hillary will. And the GOP has to be looking at 2012 even if McCain won't promise to run for only one term.

Finally

2008-08-29T11:52:00.005-06:00

More than a year ago in this lowly blog, I wrote that the GOP needed to pick a Veep that was a woman or minority in order to blunt what at first I thought would be a Clinton run then it became clear that Obama would be the choice.

Heck I wrote a letter to Karl Rove (still waiting on him to write back!) way back in 2004 suggesting that he pick somebody else other than Cheney for his 2nd term VP. But Karl never listened to anybody so ...

McCain may have done what nobody believed he could or would do.

I think this is a savvy political move and as long as she doesn't have something hidden in her closet (remember Ted Stevens is from Alaska!) and her husband is also squeeky clean, then I'd say this new team has a good shot at making something happen in November.

Maybe the only thing left for McCain to do is promise to run for only one term (something else I suggested long ago) which sets up Clinton vs. Palin in 2012. Imagine that!

Darned if he does ...

2008-08-26T21:11:00.003-06:00

Talking with a co-worker today about Conventions, the Donkeys and the GOP and decided I needed to write this down so everyone can either say how very smart I am (or stupid - only time will tell!)

OK, Obama made his choice and in typical fashion he covered a weak spot. Usually the VP comes from a state with a sizable amount of electoral votes. In this case he is trying to quell some of his critics.

McCain has it much tougher. Rumors about Lieberman. Here's my take on that: If he does it will go down in history as the most unusual pick for a VP ever. But it could be smart strategy on his part and here's why I think that. If he picks Lieberman he'll be saying to some Reagan Democrats and others who may not like Obama and are looking for a reason NOT to vote DEM - "Look, I can work with you people. Come back." He knows that right away he'd be vilified by the Christian right et al for this choice but in his mind he is hoping they'll forgive and forget by November and since few if any of them could ever vote for Obama or any other Democrat, he'll get most of them back anyway. But his losses of staunch rightees will be more than off-set by the democrats he convinces to come to the GOP side again.

The other option? He picks a more traditional person - I have no idea who this might be - but whoever it is is going to be right-of-center to placate and ensure the rightees show up and vote GOP.

A Hobson's choice of sorts. #1 is risky but given the climate might be his only chance of winning the election. #2 is not risky at all but won't win any elections.

Personally I don't like either of them but his people aren't listening to me and reading my earlier blogs about picking a minority for VP.

more odd musings

2008-08-20T11:49:00.005-06:00

Reading slowly during lunch breaks, Lord Save us From Your Followers by Dan Merchant. I got this while looking for his movie of the same name. Pretty interesting reading so far. Can't critique the book yet but couple this with something else I read on Relevant Magazine Slices web site about the guy in Florida who's been leading revival and healing meetings in Lakeland - Todd Bentley. Now I can't speak accurately about someone I've never met and I haven't been to one of his services but first read this then go back to the title noted above.

What are we going to do and how are we going to make a difference when these are the people who get all the news and end up as the poster boys for Christianity?

I know it comes from a cynical point of view about religion in general but these lyrics from Don Henley hit home:

"And we pray to our lord, who we know is American
He reigns from on high
He speaks to us through middlemen
And he shepherds his flock
We sing out and praise his name
He supports us in war
He presides over football games
And the right will prevail
All our troubles will be resolved
We hold faith above all
Unless there's money or sex involved

Frail grasp on the big picture
Nobody's calling them for roughing up the kicker
It's a frail grasp on the big picture
Heaven help us"

Frail Grasp of the Big Picture - the Eagles, Don Henley, lyrics 2008

It's those last two lines of the verse "We hold faith above all
Unless there's money or sex involved" that sum it all up it seems.

random thoughts on gas

2008-08-20T11:12:00.003-06:00

Mostly other people's thoughts but found them oddly connected. Reading WIRED magazine this morning while in the room down the hall (if you know what I mean!) and came across these:

1 - "I refuse to use bioplastic, which comes from something that people can eat. Scientists agree that we have a real food problem, a famine approaching. It's a crime against humanity to take something you can eat and make a chair - or use it as gas for your SUV." designer Phillipe Starck in response to criticism of his plastic chair design.

2 - I have to summarize before I quote. Tom Friedman - NY Times columnist and author of The World is Flat, is talking about energy which of course must lead to petroleum. He starts with "The stone age didn't end when we ran out of stone." He is asking and looking for a solution to our energy problems and suggests: "We need 100,000 people in 100,000 garages trying 100,000 things - in the hope that five of them break through. He feels current efforts are hopeless and that it will take a top-down systems approach to fix this. And the quote I've been leading up to? "Without a systems approach, what do you end up with? Corn ethanol in Iowa."

So here you have two very different people bit who agree on at least one thing: we have energy (and food) problems and ethanol is not the way to go.

I've written before on ethanol and with as little as I know now, it does not seem to be the way we can get out of this crisis. I am happy though for gas that seems to be moving downward toward $3/gallon. If in July of 2006 when I filled up for $1.99/gallon you'd have told me 1) I'd be paying $3.35/gallon and 2) I'd be happy about it; I'd have thought you were crazy!

We have friends in Rogersville whose lives and livelihoods may be affected by the construction and operation of an Ethanol plant almost literally in their backyard. There's a major hearing on this case that is going to happen on the MSU campus in September. If I can get off work that day I'd like to sit in for personal education and to lend moral support to my friends.

The boys next door

2008-08-14T20:20:00.004-06:00

Today I spent about 5 hours working with a couple of co-workers building some shelves at a group home that is part of what is called ARC of the Ozarks. I guess some years back they started using the acronym ARC instead of the Association for Retarded Citizens. This nice clean house in a less-than middle class neighborhood in Springfield houses 8 men in varying stages of physical or mental challenge or both.

I was reminded of the TV movie some years ago, The Boys Next Door with Nathan Lane. A sweet movie about several men of varying disabilities and their social worker.

I always enjoy this type of project and today we got to do something hands-on and even though it was just a set of shelves, we did a really nice job and we got it finished. There's something about a challenge like that - none of our team of three are carpenters - and getting it done and having it look pretty darn good for some chipboard and some 2X4s.

I have always had a soft spot for folks with some mental challenges. I have no idea what to do for any of them except pray when I see someone struggling with things they didn't have a say in. Probably all these men were born (or acquired through injury etc.) their disability. I am reminded of the time (John Chap. 9) when someone asked Jesus if a blind man had sinned or if it was his parents. Jesus replied; "Neither, ... but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."

Then Jesus proceeded to heal him in a most unusual way by spitting in the dirt and making clay to put on the man's eyes. Then he tells him to go wash (I assume to wash the muddy spit out of his eyes) and the man came back seeing.

I guess my hope and prayer for these 8 men and many many more like them is that they too someday see and feel the glory of God made manifest in their lives.

What will they think of next?

2008-08-12T09:11:00.003-06:00

Olympic Balladeer’s Voice Was Dubbed

By JIM YARDLEY (New York Times)
Published: August 12, 2008

BEIJING — Pigtailed and smiling, Lin Miaoke, age 9, stood in a red dress and white shoes during last Friday’s Olympic opening ceremonies and performed “Ode to the Motherland” in what would become one of the evening’s most indelible images: a lone child, fireworks blazing overhead, singing a patriotic ballad before an estimated one billion viewers.

Except that she was not really singing.

The article goes on to say that the Chinese authorities found a cute girl who could not sing well enough and a good singer who was not cute enough so ...

What will they think of next?

08-08-08

2008-08-08T12:47:00.002-06:00

If I knew how, I planned on posting this at 8:08 a.m. also but I’ll be at a meeting during that time-frame so this will have to do.

More on the Olympics.

I don’t put this on equal footing with the war in Iraq but there are some similarities.

I never thought going into Iraq was such a good idea in the first place. But – and I don’t think this is hypocritical – I am concerned for all the young men and women who are risking their lives and for the families of those who have already lost their lives. I heard today we reached a 500-casualty milestone in Afghanistan. Most of them probably never asked to be sent there but they are loyal and brave and so they go. Some don’t come back. Some don’t come back the way they left – either mentally or physically or both.

I never thought letting China host the Olympics was such a great idea. It seems only to reward the largest human rights abuser in the world. Arguably the most prolific polluter. And for what? So numerous American companies can make money. I realize few in the U.S. had anything to do with the IOC’s decision to award the 2008 Olympics to Beijing. But I didn’t hear a chorus of boos from corporate America when the selection was made either.

So shame on the IOC for picking it. Shame on NBC for tempering their news coverage so as not to offend corporate sponsors and those affiliated with their parent GE while they televise hundreds of hours of coverage. OK I heard this on that bastion of fair and balanced coverage – NPR, so it may need some qualifying.

But for the athletes – all the best. I wouldn’t want to deny some of these kids what might be their only shot at Olympic glory. Even just the honor of participating. So for them – good luck. Swim, run, throw, jump well and make American proud.

Reverse Racism

2008-08-07T11:50:00.003-06:00

My daughter (the hippie-chick-one) has an Obama bumper sticker planted on her car. I can be happy about one part of that and slightly less happy about another aspect of the bumper-sticker politicking.

I’d like to think that she is truly as color-blind as anyone can be – considering she spent her formative years in the south where rebel flags are flown without shame (a house less than a mile from me now, still has one flying from the front porch!) An aside – I’ve actually begun praying for the man who lives there. I saw him sitting on his porch one morning and he didn’t look happy. I can’t imagine carrying so much anger or hate that you’d want to fly a rebel flag. So I simply ask God to bless him when I pass his house.

I was NOT raised in a racism-free home. I don’t think my father had any overt animosity towards African-Americans; he was raised during a time when they “knew their place”. My mother would occasionally use the “N” word. My father preferred the term “colored.” Somehow I came away from that upbringing with about as neutral a feeling as I guess is possible.

We raised our children with the idea that race was not an issue. I know it is and can be but we didn’t know how else to teach them except that, color doesn’t matter.
So bless her, I’d like to think at least part of my daughter’s blithely accepting Obama as a candidate is based on that.

I wonder how many other well-meaning liberals will be doing the same thing in a form of reverse racism. They will look past his politics, his lack of high-level experience and vote for him simply because he is black. Thinking that somehow this symbolic gesture will undo generations of racism and racial guilt and show everybody how open and progressive they really are. “I voted for a black man. See what an open-minded person I am!”

In much the same way as pollsters often find out – people say one thing about their votes but often do something else. I think this whole thing will balance or cancel itself out; i.e. some people will say they voted for Obama but really won’t or can’t and others will say they voted for the other guy but when they punched their very own little hanging chad, it was for Obama.

As for me I’m undecided. Not in the way you might think though. As long as Obama maintains certain positions, I could not bring myself to vote for him. But on the other hand, I'm not ready to pull the lever or punch the chad for McCain. I think he is going to lose and in the process may hurt the GOP for a long time.

Politics and the Olympics

2008-08-07T11:32:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I heard that Olympic speed skater Joey Cheek was denied a visa to attend the games in Beijing. I mistakenly thought he would be competing (oops he skates in the Winter Games!) but I guess he was going to protest. Still in their on-going effort to stifle dissent, the Chinese government revoked his visa. His crime? A group called Team Darfur which among other things calls attention to China's involvement and support of the Sudanese government and their continued oppression, genocide - pick a word that means horrible treatment of your own citizens - of the distressingly poor, destitute etc. in Darfur which for the uninformed is an area in western Sudan. Not to be confused with the portion of southern Sudan that for so many years was the site of a civil war where the government of Sudan (sounding familiar?) was attempting to purge anything non-Islamic from that portion of their country. I realize that nothing, no one, nobody, no how - is truly God-forsaken, but Sudan must be pretty darn close.

My title is Politics and the Olympics and prompted mostly by the inane comments of an IOC spokesperson yesterday saying basically that the IOC does not get involved in matters relating to the host country or some such drivel.

I guess maybe from a purely technical point of view they (certainly not at this late date) don't have any authority over what Beijing does or does not do. What are they going to do - threaten them? "No more Olympics in China until at least 2024!"

A quick look at Olympic history shows politics playing a major role in many Olympic games going back to 1936 when much to his dismay, Hitler had to watch as Jesse Owens took Gold Medals in track. In Mexico in 1968 Black Power rose again but in the form of a two gloved fists. We remember the massacre in Munich in 1972 but may forget this act was carried out by Palestinian terrorists against the Israeli team. 1980 saw us boycott the Olympics in Moscow and of course Russia did the same for our coming out party in LA in 1984. The list goes on and on.

It will be interesting to see how the next two weeks play out.

No Country or Anyplace else for that matter!

2008-08-06T10:57:00.004-06:00

Just finished watching No Country for Old Men. And before I talk about the movie I must share a personal piece of trivia. About a year ago I heard Tess Harper (Tommy Lee Jones' wife in No Country) would be in town to speak at a Writer's Luncheon/Award thing. For some odd reason I thought she'd make an interesting, albeit, different guest for a show we were taping with our Mayor. Most of our guests were the usual suspects and I thought this might move him and our show out of our comfort zone a little so I tried to make contact with her. It took a few days but I succeeded in reaching her and she accepted my invitation. The show went well, our Mayor rose to the challenge and took my notes and questions and added some personal interest. She was cordial but I was surprised by two things - she came dressed for jogging and smoking a cigarette. Back to the movie...

I guess anything by the Coen brothers will be surprising. Overall I liked the movie but was disappointed with the ending. I read No Country years ago but I confess I don't recall how it ends. But somehow I wanted the satisfaction of seeing Chigurh blown away or something - oops spoiler for those who haven't seen it yet.

Anything with Tommy Lee Jones is worth watching and that's the only reason my wife stuck it out to the end. She was put off by the violence pretty early but I guess she got numb to it as the movie went along. I've never seen Josh Brolin in anything before but thought he was convincing and good in his role. And of course now Javier Bardem's picture must be next to the word sociopath in the dictionary.

My wife wondered though why or if Tommy Lee's character ever connected the dots between the cattle-killing air powered thing and his own story about the guy who shot himself while trying to kill a steer.

Cormac McCarthy didn't write a follow-up but the Coen's left the door open for Tommy Lee to continue to hunt for Chigurh. At times watching this I felt like I was in one of Tony Hillerman's novels in the southwest - miles and miles of desert, isolation, etc. And the lead characters seem similar - world-weary, smart detective-types searching for killers.

Mia Farrow, Sudan and China

2008-08-05T11:56:00.003-06:00

I wonder how and why celebrities get such a big soap-box from which to voice their opinions but then again all of us should be free (we are) to do the same. We just don't get a large and immediate audience for our collective ramblings.

Today I listened to a live phone interview with Mia Farrow from a refugee camp in Chad - near the border of Sudan. She is there symbolically speaking out against China's involvement in supporting the government of Sudan - mostly by buying their oil. She has been vocal in calling for people to boycott or protest or something against the Olympics being held in Beijing. I'll give her credit.

It must be 110 on a cool day there; it is dangerous, not pretty, un-glamourous etc. but she is there making her point. She doesn't draw the attention of Ms. Jolie but she could be at home in her Park or 5th Avenue penthouse spending Frank's, Andre's or Woody's money but she's walking the talk, so to speak.

I can't go to Chad or Sudan but I'll be starting up my Olympic boycott on 08/08/08 by not watching any of the Olympics this year.

democracy

2008-08-05T11:33:00.004-06:00

Today is an election day in our state and county and city. I now proudly wear my "I voted" sticker. I say proudly but maybe not. I was the 31st voter in my dinky little rural county. Even though they handed me a big piece of paper and an uncapped felt-tipped pen, I voted for a whopping two people. I have never voted for people I don't know anything about - even if running unopposed. So I left most of the spaces blank.

I consider myself fairly well-read; especially in the political realm. But today I didn't know diddly about almost everybody on the ballot. Who's fault is that? In one newscast I can see half-a-dozen ads for the major state-wide offices. But as Tip O'Neill used to say; "All politics is local." Where are/were all these people in the weeks running up to today's vote? I don't expect, nor should they buy TV time.

A friend and former co-worker is running for a state office. I can't vote for him because he doesn't represent my area but his main tactic was going door-to-door. He alloted something like 30-45 minutes everyday to walk the district and meet people. I'll bet he gets lots of votes from people who may or may not know where he stands on all the issues.

While I have some strong personal feelings about a lot of issues, I don't think most of them matter at the local levels. I'd probably have voted for somebody if they'd taken the time to drive around and meet people in their district. I can tell you some of their names because I pass their signs everyday. But that doesn't tell me how hard they will work to deal with issues and problems in our county. If someone is willing to get out and burn up a little shoe leather (or gas!), I'm much more likely to pay attention to them and perhaps support them with my vote.

End of an Era

2008-07-27T16:10:00.002-06:00

Perhaps 7 years ago, my wife and I started raising sheep. We'd had a few head of cattle, some goats, chickens and a horse here and there but nothing serious. We wanted to do something for some extra income and some friends influenced us to consider sheep. We'd had one brief experience with sheep, "sheep-sitting" for some other friends when they moved away for about a year. That didn't go too well and we ended up not keeping them for very long.

But then we moved to a place with 34 acres and some grass so we dove in. We started small and small. A few sheep and some smaller sheep. And "hair" sheep, meaning they didn't grow wool in the traditional way. This meant we didn't have to worry about shearing.

After maybe a year or two of this we sold these to some other "newbies" and moved on to bigger real sheep.

We gave it a really good try. I worked hard on fences and all sorts of grunt labor and my wife learned how to do shots, give medicine - all the brainy stuff you need to know. Along the way we learned a lot, had some fun and even won a Grand Champion prize at the Ozark Empire fair in 2007.

But we never made any real money. In fact all we did was spend money. This past year was especially tough. We lost about half our lambs - some died in birthing, others didn't live very long but the end result is our flock didn't grow and we had very little to sell. Meanwhile gas and feed prices made it even more costly to keep them.

Earlier this summer we also lost our champion ram - he died from some illness we never quite figured out.

So we decided to sell off what we had left and get out of the sheep business.

It was especially hard on my wife since this was a big part of her life on the farm.

She got some degree of satisfaction this weekend when one of our sheep that she had sold to another lady - won Grand Champion in her class at Ozark Empire Fair. This ewe was one born on our place and raised by my wife and groomed etc. so the credit for the win is mostly hers.

For now we plan to take the coming winter off from raising animals and next spring look at the economy, gas prices, feed costs etc. and decide what to do from there.

But for now we aren't really sheep ranchers. Not sure what we are actually - more later.

Good Shepherd

2008-07-22T11:15:00.005-06:00

Just finished watching the Good Shepherd with my wife. Complex and interesting movie. As I guess a good movie that blends fact and faction should, I am interested in knowing more about the Bay of Pigs deal. But I also have some questions and observations about the movie.

Does anyone think Damon's character actually turned/flipped to become a double agent?

Overall I found it odd that Damon's character was so visible in DC and overseas. Everybody had to know he was with the CIA and of course he was not covert BUT anyone he met with or spoke with would be exposed.

I found it very interesting and if this was De Niro's first directing project, not bad. While I am the first to say that stories don't have to be linear, this one might have benefited from a little more exposition and some linearity to help those like me follow along.

James and me

2008-07-22T11:03:00.004-06:00

In my blog of April 24 I suggested one way for McCain to have a shot this November was to promise to run for only one term. Another way was in his Veep pick.

Today on Imus I caught a little of his interview with James Carville (the rajun cajun) who among other things suggested that McCain tell everyone (but not until about September) that he was only (wink-wink - I guess Carville meant that McCain should say this but not really mean it but) going to run for one term. He also said that McCain should and might surprise us with his pick for VP. Probably someone we don't expect and maybe haven't heard of.

For all his bluster I actually like Carville - maybe I just enjoy his Louisiana accent.

Thanks, Dale Dudley!

2008-07-17T11:09:00.004-06:00

I taught myself how to play tennis when I was around 10 or 11. I borrowed an old used wooden racket with one of those hideous frames to keep it from warping and read several books so I'd know all the rules. I got our neighborhood kids out to a nearby tennis court where I proceeded to tell them all how to play but we had lots of fun on hot summer days.

I went on to play for my Junior High tennis team and we did pretty good. I "lettered" two years which meant I got to play enough to get a sweater with a big "G" on it and two stripes to indicate I was no "one year wonder."

Jump to high school where of course I went out for the team. I was actually "recruited" by another high school who thought I might actually consider switching high-schools. I guess I thought I was pretty hot stuff.

September 1969 - my first high-school practice. I remember much of it. Lake Cliff park - a really nice park with a lake and tennis courts, baseball fields, and before the Polio scare of the 50s, a public swimming pool.

So did we/I spend our first practice impressing our Coach, Dale Dudley, with our serves and volleys? I don't even think we hit a ball. We spent the entire practice (and several more) doing nothing but drills. Footwork. Racket readiness. Our grip. Even when we started hitting the ball we still did drills. And of course after practice we had to run around the courts several times. Tennis was supposed to be fun - not work!

After a year or two the drills took up less of our time. But I recall he sent me and another player out to a country club where we took serving lessons from the pro there. He either had a deal or paid for this out of his own pocket.

Somehow I managed to play all three years and lettered in two of them which again means I played enough matches to qualify. We had a good team and were semi-finalists for the City High School champs two years in a row.

Once again I was good enough at this stage to be offered a couple of college scholarships - nothing huge but enough to pay the bills at some small Texas schools. But I wanted to go to a big school so I didn't take the offers. The high point of my "career" came a few tears later when I won a large City tournament in singles and beat a close friend in the finals for the very first time. He was a senior when I was a sophomore and was always better than me and a lefty to boot!

I'll make a couple of observations here: while many of the top players right now may have had some "classical training" I think most of them got where they are by having great natural tennis abilities. Watch Nadal - he has unusual form although more traditional than most. I'll bet his first coach didn't try to take him back to square one on his ground strokes or his serve. He was probably already very good before he ever met a coach. Go back to McEnroe - one of the better players of all time. Where in the world did he get that serve motion? Got to be the goofiest thing I've ever seen? Agassi? My coach, the aforementioned Mr. Dudley would have told him he was hitting the ball too high - let it drop lower. All that topspin? Save it as a surprise. Service returns? He stands too far inside the court! You can watch the current crop of players and probably guess with some accuracy which ones are naturals and which ones started with the fundamentals. One final picky thing - obviously Mr. Williams has done a god job of coaching his daughters, Venus and Serena but with both of them I notice two things - or maybe it is one thing. I can almost always tell in advance when they will hit the ball into the net or long. I guess it comes from seeing something in their swing (or back swing or footwork) that tells me they are going to miss. If I were playing against either of them I'd be able to save a lot of energy because I wouldn't be going after balls that are never coming over the net.

Ultimately in today's tennis - which is much more about power than it ever was when I played, natural wins out every time. Tradition and fundamentals will only take you so far.

But now to my point. Through a variety of circumstances, job loss, small children, moving to a new state and out in the sticks where there are no tennis courts, I let my rackets sit idle for a long time. But for months now one of my daughters has been asking me to teach her to play. I finally fulfilled that request (or at least started the process) and took all three to a tennis court last night. Oddly enough, the one who begged, played for only about 2 or 3 minutes and then wanted to ride her bike with some friends.

I played with my teen-aged daughter for about an hour. I am sore today. But you know what? Apart from timing issues - I had plenty of miss-hits - I can hit the ball well, hard, keep it in the court and I even had some speed on my serve. I have not played at ALL for about 17 years! I'm sure I'd have some difficulty winning a match right now, but I think I could stay on the court and play respectably with anyone my age (my knees and ankles won't let me move like I used to) and maybe against even younger players.

And you know why? I think Dale Dudley drilled so many basics into me for so long that even without playing, they are programmed into my brain so my muscles act accordingly.
If I can get my daughter(s) out more often and find the time, I plan on taking this "lifetime sport" up again.

So thanks Dale!

Up, up and away!

2008-06-30T17:09:00.004-06:00

Last night I ended up having to work - a Sunday evening; far from one of my favorite times to do anything but crash. But a major City event was postponed from Saturday and the guy that was going to work it (shoot video) couldn't do it Sunday so I figured I'd voluntarily draw the short straw and do it myself rather than beg or plead with someone else to work a Sunday evening.

I asked my 15 yr old daughter Annie along to help and because she enjoys this kind of stuff anyway.

We'd been at Firefall maybe 30 minutes and were waiting for the Hot Air balloons to take off so I could get some shots of them. Against the blue sky and clouds, these colorful puffy things make great pictures.

A guy walked over to us and asked if we could help him crew - he was short-handed. I begged off since I had a 'real' job to do but said my daughter could help.

She followed them around and did a couple of little things and then after a few more minutes he came back and said they had an empty spot in the basket/gondola and could my daughter go up with them? Of course I said yes and maybe 15 minutes later my daughter and crew were airborne! I guess they flew - glided - whatever balloons do - for about 30-45 minutes before touching down. I guess they actually tipped over when they landed.

I hope she had more than just fun but a memory to last a long time of something not many people ever get to do. Sometimes working with 'dear-ole-dad' is not so bad after all!

smiling faces

2008-06-23T20:52:00.020-06:00

I've spent several hours over the last few days looking at pictures from my daughter's recent wedding. One thing I notice is that the faces in the background are all smiling.

I hope this means at least a couple of things: that they were having fun at the wedding - it turned out great- lots of people - great weather - good food and secondly I hope it means they are happy for Sarah and Caleb. I know I am and I hope it shows in my smile too!

The Great Debaters

2008-06-18T11:04:00.002-06:00

late to the party but my wife and I just watched this little movie. I say little since I didn't hear much about it - no blockbuster talk - no Oscar talk etc. but I have to say except for a few things - it was a pretty good movie.

Directed by Denzel Washington (who also stars) along with Forest Whitaker. I think Oprah was one of the producers.

I have no idea how true the story is - and by that I mean how much it was tweaked for dramatic effect. But apart from the amazingness of it, the movie takes you back to a time and place most of us can not even imagine and by that I mean the Jim Crow south of the 30s. More than anything (except maybe that the role models played - especially by Forest Whitaker) would be good for anyone to emulate. Early in the movie Washington's character asks some of his students to quote various passages - and they do. They have their own favorite quotes etc. Now remember this is at a small all-Black college in East Texas in the 1930s. I'll bet if you walked into the best school of any type in America today and asked some of those questions, students would be hard-pressed to remember much more than "To be or not to be ..." and think that because they can quote a little Shakespeare they are educated. I know my education was sorely lacking in the classics. These kids could quote Langston Hughes. I know who he is but can't quote him or probably couldn't recognize his work if someone quoted it to me.

Anyway I heartily recommend this movie and depending on the ages of your kids - watch it with them. There are some disturbing scenes and some themes may not be appropriate - it is a PG-13 but nothing sexually graphic, not a lot (if any) language. The most disturbing scene is one people should be made to watch anyway to remember some of the horrible things people have done to others because they are different.

It is uplifting, informative, entertaining and well-done.

JT

2008-06-11T10:54:00.004-06:00

I can cross one thing off my personal bucket list now. Not that I actually have one of those but if I did, this would have been there.

Thanks to my daughter Gillian (thanks Gilly bean!) my wife and I were treated to an evening of James Taylor at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City.

He did not disappoint. He must be one of the few singers who in their advancing age can still hit almost all of the notes. Only occasionally did I catch him changing to match his range. And of course his guitar sounds the same. How does he do that? I could not see what he played and have no idea what type of strings he uses but to my ear - the sound is the same as when I first heard him back in the late 60s.

He looks very different though. My friends back in college in Texas used to joke that I looked like James Taylor. I played guitar, liked his music and had a huge wall-covering poster of him in my bedroom. He had long dark hair and a mustache. I had long dark hair and a mustache. The similarity stops somewhere about here.

But I still have most of my hair and it is now short. JT on the other hand seems to have misplaced his somewhere.

Regardless he is still great to listen to and I'm glad to be able to say "been there, done that," but I didn't buy the t-shirt. They were asking $35 and up for a t-shirt at the concert. I passed.

My one disappointment with the concert is that he played lots of other folks' music. I'd rather hear all his stuff than his covers - although (and my wife disagrees on this one - she called it "a stretch") but he did Wichita Lineman by Jimmy Webb (made famous of course by Glen Campbell) and I really liked it. You need a high pure voice to pull this one off. Odd thought but I'll bet Vince Gill could do this one too.

I'll probably never see JT again unless it's on a PBS special or something but I'm glad to have had the chance.

Thanks again Bean!

Hub’s passing

2008-06-11T10:50:00.001-06:00

In the summer of 2007 my wife purchased a beautiful big horned ram (for those who don’t know – a ram is a male sheep but not all rams have horns.) She brought him home, we groomed him, and learned how to handle this rather large fellow with a big set of horns.

We entered him in the Ozark Empire Fair and were proud to take home the prize for Grand Champion. This means he was the BEST in the whole show for our breed - Rambouillet.

Next up we planned to show him in the State fair in Sedalia – hoping that we could win there too and have something that would help us market our sheep. Prize-winners and their progeny do much better than just your average wooly creature!

But in the next week or so, he got sick. He ran an extremely high temperature. At times we thought he would die and we even wondered if we should put him down. But we did all sorts of things to save his life – including shearing off his really nice coat of wool.

Bottom line – no state fair for this boy. But we hoped we could nurse him back to health so he could still be used to breed with our flock of ewes.

Over the next few months my wife tried a variety of treatments for what she thought was wrong. He seemed to get better but was never his old self. He walked slowly and his gait was ungainly. And he never – to our knowledge – was able to breed any of our ewes. But he was unbelievably strong so we kept him and continued to treat him.

But then last month he started staying down longer and moving more slowy. One evening I looked in on him and he just had that look that said he was not going to get up and would probably die soon.

Within a couple of days he was dead. We felt bad of course and hoped we had not prolonged his suffering.

Regardless, he was a stately and regal animal and will always be Grand Champion of the 2007 Ozark Empire Fair.

There Was Blood

2008-06-04T16:02:00.001-06:00

I may be the last person to see and write about this movie but just got around to watching it with my wife last week – I finished it up this week.

OK, I know it won Oscars etc. but I was disappointed. I like Mr. Lewis but his role seemed in some ways like his “Cutter” role in Gangs of NY – more caricature than character. There were certainly some interesting scenes. I can only guess if the settings accurately represent early 20th century California but I liked the visuals.

But overall apart from watching the predictable demise of the Plainview character, the likewise stereotyped portrayal of Eli Sunday – I guess I missed something.

My wife bailed out after about 45 minutes – it did not hold her attention at all.

I was determined to finish this much raved about movie but when it was over my brain went “huh?”

Maybe others have found deeper meaning and significance.

For this day

2008-05-28T11:42:00.004-06:00

So begins a new era of my life. On May 17th my precious daughter Sarah was married to her cowboy beau. Today though was the morning that their fuly loaded truck and trailer pulled out of our driveway for Montana where they plan to live for the foreseeable future. No surprise - we've been expecting this for more than a year. But I think you are never ready for one of your kids to leave home. Sarah's not the first - Gill left a few years ago but she only went across town and we see her almost every week.

So we've all been crying a lot in the last couple of days. I couldn't help but think about everytime we did something - that this would be the last time it would happen - at least in our home and maybe for a long time.

Every so often Sarah and I would walk our dogs together. It gave us a chance to talk and just get away from the house and be alone. Sunday we took one more walk. Both of us just cried most of the way and held hands while we walked.

Last night before bed time we all sat on the couches and mostly just looked at each other - or maybe NOT looked at each other. Everytime I caught Sarah's eye, we both started to cry.

But my wife said something this morning that I will have to keep going back to whenever I start to get weepy or anything - she said we have raised her for this day. We've had her for 25 years and now she starts her own new life adventure with her husband. We'll still be a part of that life but she's on her own now.

I know this is so old fashioned and 70s but I was hoping my daughter would play Noel Paul (of Peter Paul and Mary) Stookey's "Wedding Song" at some point in her wedding (but I never mentioned this to her) I know this became as cliched in the 70s as Pachebel's Canon is today. But I still love the song. One line comes from scripture - " A man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home. They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one." Sarah left her home today. I also can't help but remember the words of Ruth to Naomi - "Your people shall be my people." Sarah is going to be with her husband Caleb's people -his family in Montana. And they will be one - with each other. And that "one-ness" will be the strength that will carry them thru hard times - and hopefully help Sarah during her transition to a new home and an extended family.

We are all sad but we are also very happy. Not sure how to find the balance between the two. I also remember my first post about their marriage - Bittersweet. I guess that's how this still feels.

Conflict Resolution

2008-05-08T11:53:00.002-06:00

A week or so ago I was waiting at my favorite Chinese fast-food place for my order (Sweet-and-sour chicken, all-white, no won tons, extra rice - they know my order without me even saying it and call me by my first name when I approach the counter.) It is a small place so while you wait you may stand close to others either waiting or eating. I'm not European enough to share that kind of space with people but in this case you have to.

On my left was a table of scruffy young men with knit hats and lots of tattoos. On my right was a young man and his pretty (wife, girlfriend - who knows). The boys were loud and somewhat profane. The young man turned to them and asked them to stop and he used the phrase "There is a lady right here." I don't guess I've heard that used quite that way since I was much younger when people used to say "pardon my french" when they cussed. The 'boys' mostly ignored him. A minute or so later he repeated his request. Things began to heat up and the boys began to taunt him back by using a certain word that begin with the sixth letter of the alphabet.

I was worried that this would get even hotter and someone would stand-up and the next thing you know a brawl would ensue. If I frequented biker-bars more regularly (or even at all) maybe this is commonplace. But for me it is rare. I began to think about what I would do if they started in on him. They had him outnumbered 5 or 6 to 1.

He whipped out his blackberry-style phone and called someone and used the term "dispatch" which let me know either he watches too much TV or actually knew someone in 911 or the Police dept. Either way two of the loudest boys made their exit so I was not tested.

I'd like to think I would have somehow stepped in to help the one young man. But I really don't know what or where I'd have been if fists started flying.

the Color of Shadows

2008-05-08T11:45:00.003-06:00

For some reason a couple of months ago I got an idea for a short story and as I began to mull it over I added a component of Autism. I have no idea why. I've never really known anybody with autism. But I started noticing articles about it and clipping them. Then I expanded into books by or about autistic people. One I am reading now is "How Can I Talk if My Lips Don't Move?" by Tito Mukhopadhyay (absolutely no idea how I found this book or how to pronounce the name.)

One chapter is about shadows. The simple point to make here is that he noticed that shadows all had the color of where they FELL, not of the thing casting the shadow. My hand is flesh colored but its shadow might be a darker shade of the concrete it falls on or the grass beneath me.

As I read about autism I realize that these folks don't see the world in the same way I do and in some unusual ways, they may see more of it. That is going to be part of my story if I can ever get it written.

Once more with feeling

2008-04-24T11:31:00.003-06:00

Nothing new but a re-stating of an old idea.

I heard two people arguing back and forth about Obama and Clinton this a.m. on NPR and one thing they both said stood out: Either one of them represents a major change from the Bush 43 administration. So with that in mind I repeat some earlier advice and ideas for Sen. McCain:

1 - Lay low until the convention.
2 - Raise tons of money and horde it for the fall campaign.
3 - At the convention make the best speech of your life which will include:
a) a promise to not run again - to only serve one term no matter what and
b) announce that your choice for Veep is a woman, Hispanic or African-American. If you can find someone who gets two out of those three then all the better.
4 - Don't feel it is being disloyal to distance yourself from Bush. Make your case on Iraq and stick with it. At the end of the day, sticking with your own idea, opinion - even if not one shared by everybody, is better than doing a John Kerry ( I voted for the war but I was really against it so then I voted against it because I really was ...) I think people still respect strong opinions if you stick by your guns rather than flip-flopping all over the place.

If McCain had a Karl Rove-type person I'd send this to him/her but since I don't know that contact this will have to do.

I can almost guarantee if he manages to do #3, he wins in November.

If not, then it's going to be a close race or maybe not even close at all.

My thoughts on the GOP side of things.

4ths

2008-04-03T18:40:00.002-06:00

Shakespeare through one of his characters, declared “Beware the Ides of March!” which portended the demise of Julius Caesar on March 15.

I guess it was while listening to U2 sing “Early morning, April 4, a shot rings out through the Memphis sky …” (not withstanding that Martin Luther King was actually shot at 6 p.m.) that I started thinking about the 4th day of the month. The Kent State shootings just two years later were also on May 4.

At any rate, the 4ths of each month are as a whole, pretty bad days. Lets hope today is not one of them.

In January 1999 Jesse Ventura was sworn on as Governor of Minnesota.

In February 2003 Yugoslavia disappeared as a country – replaced by Serbia and Montenegro. I’m not even close to understanding what is happening there now.

On Feb. 4, 1969 Yassir Arafat became head of the PLO.

Not all bad things happened on the 4th. On March 4 1789, our Constitution went into effect

June 4 1989 was the 2nd day of the Tianenmen square massacre where thousands of Chinese students were killed.

July 4 for all its notoriety has been a bad day for former Presidents. In 1826 both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died. In 1831 James Monroe died. In 1939 Lou Gehrig made his farewell appearance at Yankee Stadium (ironically his jersey number was 4.)

On August 4, 1892 Lizzie Borden killed her parents. In 1914 Germany invaded Belgium which brought Britain into WWI. Thirty years later in 1944 Anne Frank and her family were found by the Nazis in Amsterdam.

In 1957 on Sept. 4 nine black students attempted to enter Little Rock's Central High School but were blocked by the National Guard.

The Russians launched Sputnik on October 4 in 1957. Years later in 1970 Janis Joplin was found dead of a drug overdose on another October 4.

Russian troops attacked Budapest and crushed the Hungarian revolt on November 4 1956.

On Nov. 4 1979 The American embassy in Tehran, Iran, was seized by militants and 90 Americans taken hostage.

In Nov. 1995 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated by another Israeli.

And unless you count Frank Zappa’s death on Dec. 4 in 1993, the 4ths of December have been pretty quiet.

Turning the other cheek

2008-03-31T21:35:00.003-06:00

I heard an incredible story last week on NPR.

There is a project called Story Corps that gets people to record their stories as sort of an oral history project. I'll save you the time and the link and print the transcript here with credit to NPR. This is Jesus' instruction to turn the other cheek, or go the extra mile etc. played out - no, LIVED out in real life.

A Victim Treats His Mugger Right

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Morning Edition, March 28, 2008 · Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.

But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.

He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

"He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" Diaz says.

As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."

The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, "like what's going on here?" Diaz says. "He asked me, 'Why are you doing this?'"

Diaz replied: "If you're willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you're more than welcome.

"You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help," Diaz says.

Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.

"The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi," Diaz says. "The kid was like, 'You know everybody here. Do you own this place?'"

"No, I just eat here a lot," Diaz says he told the teen. "He says, 'But you're even nice to the dishwasher.'"

Diaz replied, "Well, haven't you been taught you should be nice to everybody?"

"Yea, but I didn't think people actually behaved that way," the teen said.

Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. "He just had almost a sad face," Diaz says.

The teen couldn't answer Diaz — or he didn't want to.

When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, "Look, I guess you're going to have to pay for this bill 'cause you have my money and I can't pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I'll gladly treat you."

The teen "didn't even think about it" and returned the wallet, Diaz says. "I gave him $20 ... I figure maybe it'll help him. I don't know."

Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen's knife — "and he gave it to me."

Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, "You're the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch."

"I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It's as simple as it gets in this complicated world."

Produced for Morning Edition by Michael Garofalo.

Immigration

2008-03-10T16:34:00.003-06:00

There has plenty ado about immigration and McCain and this being one (of many) issues where the conservative rank-and-file wing of the GOP, takes issue with him.

I confess several things: Yes, this is a really big deal. No, I do not have a great idea on how to solve this thing. Is it THE thing on which I will base my vote for President? No.

While there are parts of this that certainly are moral issues – I’m not ready to put all my voting eggs in this one basket.

It is quite possible that a Democrat, a Republican, a Libertarian or a combination of any or all of these just might have the long-term answer for how to deal with this thorny issue.

I hope we get a smart enough person in the White House who will surround themselves with even smarter people who aren’t afraid to stand up to him/her and say “No, Mr(s). President, you are wrong.”

I got to the middle of a book by Newt Gingrich (Real Change) before the library said I had to take it back. Many do not like Gingrich or agree with him but regardless he seems like an extremely smart guy. One thing he talked about is some legislation called “Simpson-Mazzoli.” In 1986 under then Pres. Reagan, this law was passed that supposedly would solve our immigration mess. 1986 – 22 years ago.

It was Yogi Berra who coined the “Just like déjà vu …” phrase which seems so apropos here. Read this article [ Enacting Immigration Reform, Again By Romano L. Mazzoli and Alan K. Simpson] which can be found here.

Wikipedia also has a reasonable summary. OR you can go to the Library of Congress which also has information.

Spanish/American philosopher and poet George Santayana (1863-1952), said something to the effect that he who does not remember the past is condemned to repeat it. Seems like all of our politicos would do well to review the whys of this 20+ year old legislation and why it didn’t solve the problem and apparently doesn’t/didn’t work before they spend countless additional hours trying to re-invent the same wheel.

The GOP, McCain and Hispanics

2008-03-10T16:31:00.001-06:00

I know I’m beating this one to death but sometime a week or so ago good ole Daniel Schorr was on NPR talking about how Obama is getting a large % of the African-American vote (no surprise) and that Hillary is getting a large share of the Hispanic vote (slightly more surprising to me.) It shows that we still have other racial divides going on in our country if Hispanics are attracted to Clinton and not Obama. Are they uncomfortable with voting for an African-American?

Maybe I am out of touch but it has been 30 or more years ago when I was growing up in Texas and as more immigrants from Mexico and points south started coming in, there were problems between Blacks and Latinos. I guess I naively thought that was all history and minorities united under a more common umbrella. Guess not.

My point – as before - the GOP must start reaching out to minorities. A co-worker pointed out to me that they DO in Florida. OK – point taken I guess but I don't know much about Florida.

I was in southern Arkansas recently and without sounding prejudicial, you can’t help but notice as you move south, there is always more color in the aisles when you go to WalMart, etc. It has usually been black.

My cousin in Arkansas informed me that in her county, there are now more Hispanics than African-Americans.

If the GOP can find a convincing way to attract Hispanics, they can build a formidable answer to the Obama surge – if he should go on to get the nomination. If Hillary manages to survive and run, then any efforts to win Hispanics will still siphon votes away from her. Voting GOP is not anathema to Hispanics. I seem to recall both Bushes got a fair amount of Latino support in their respective elections.

I don’t know what McCain can do about this right now. I’m not aware of a known Hispanic that is ready to be on the ticket as a VP, but if he can find one, once again I think this would be just plain old good politics.

And now that he can relax and raise money while Clinton and Obama try to decide who’s name will go at the top of the ticket, maybe he can come up with someone to run with.

Sand and Sorrow

2008-02-21T13:43:00.002-06:00

I just finished watching a documentary called “Sand and Sorrow.”

As docs go this isn’t great but the story it tells and the message far outweigh the production’s short-comings.

It is about the efforts of a few to get the U.S. Govt. and others to do something about the on-going genocide in Darfur.

Several months ago I wrote about the “Lost Boys” from southern Sudan who had to leave because of conflict there.

Recently I wrote about Steven Spielberg and his decision to NOT assist with the Beijing Olympics because of China’s involvement with the Sudanese government who back the so-called “Janjaweed,” who are the militia-like group responsible for most if not all of the slaughter and rape and the like in Darfur.

In this documentary the most disconcerting thing I heard (there is plenty to see!) was that shortly after 9-11, we began to get more intelligence information from the Sudanese government about terrorist activity inside their borders (I guess everyone has read or heard that Osama bin Laden once lived in Sudan and used that as a base of operations for much of his activity until he went to Afghanistan.) My point here is that if what is said in the doc is true, we have sort of turned our eyes away from Darfur in exchange for the information they provide.

Another point of this movie is what can we/anybody do? I have no idea except to support some relief work going on. I like Samaritan’s Purse. I used to have my contributions to them designated to southern Sudan years ago. I think I’ll switch to Darfur.

I am naïve about this stuff but I find it strange that we have sustained a boycott of Cuba for years – decades, yet we have done nothing to stop the brutality and whatever else is going on in Sudan. Overall I think U.S. foreign policy is inconsistent at best – misguided at its worst.

This was not supposed to be a ramble but rather a recommendation to watch this movie if you can. Like I said I don’t think it is a great one as far as how it is done – far too long to make the points it makes but still a very important story that people need to hear.

And as with everything I’m sure I don’t have the whole story but all you have to do is look at the eyes of the Sudanese government guy when he talks about what they are doing and then look in the eyes of the women who have been raped and the children who are starving in the camps in Chad waiting for somebody – somewhere to do something to help them. I think it is safe to assume that the story contained in this movie is true. I’m sure the makers have some anti-U.S. bias in their portrayal of our govt. but I’d agree that we have made many mistakes in our dealings with countries like this in the past under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

more on Beijing

2008-02-14T12:32:00.003-06:00

Some months ago I wrote a post that said I would be boycotting the Beijing Olympics. I had no idea I would be in such esteemed company.

Seems sometime last year Mia Farrow - yes formerly of Woody Allen, Frank Sinatra and Rosemary's Baby - wrote an Op-Ed piece in the Wall St. Journal calling for artists to stay away from any involvement. I guess somewhere along the line Steven Spielberg had talked about helping to produce the opening ceremonies.

Here's the link to the Mia Farrow thing which was published in The Wall Street Journal, March 28, 2007

By RONAN FARROW and MIA FARROW

"One World, One Dream" is China's slogan for its 2008 Olympics. But there is one nightmare that China shouldn't be allowed to sweep under the rug. That nightmare is Darfur, where more than 400,000 people have been killed and more than two-and-a-half million driven from flaming villages by the Chinese-backed government of Sudan." more here

Here's a link to the news about Spielberg who has now decided NOT to participate.

Honestly I had no idea China had any connection whatsoever with Sudan and Darfur but it makes sense and seems believable. I intend to research this some more in my spare time - perhaps so can you.

More on the bio-fuel dilemma

2008-02-14T12:26:00.001-06:00

I've written before about the rush to move our country toward ethanol as a replacement for traditional fossil based fuels. I'm still learning but read this article recently published in the NY Times.

Here's a key line:

"Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these “green” fuels are taken into account, two studies being published Thursday have concluded."

Read the whole thing here.

Don’t Do it Again!

2008-02-08T12:50:00.000-06:00

Early in 2007 our esteemed elected officials in Jefferson City passed a bill that in the guise of promoting competition, forever changed the landscape of cable in Missouri. AT&T lobbied hard and got what they wanted. Cities and ultimately consumers lost – all in the name of choice and competition.

I won’t belabor that lost cause now – just follow what is happening in cities across the country where AT&T is moving in. Technical problems. A lesser-quality-signal than cable. Slight – but noticeable delays in switching channels and of course what is near and dear – PEG. This once bastion of local programming has been (or will be) relegated to a sort of hybrid channel that forces viewers to first select a channel then make another selection once there to pick the particular channel they wish to watch. They say on the internet if you ask people to make too many clicks, they won’t get to your site. I think the same thing will happen here. People just wont bother.

And one thing we haven’t seen yet in Springfield are the huge boxes AT&T has to put up everywhere to make this work. Because the legislature effectively took away some local authority, these enormous boxes can be put wherever AT&T thinks they need them – just hope one doesn’t end up in your front yard.

But my point is not cable or lack of it but rather that it appears our elected officials may once again be entering an area where they don’t know enough – full disclosure - NEITHER DO I!

I read a blurb yesterday that they may be considering some sort of State legislation related to ethanol and subsidies.

I don’t know enough about ethanol but have read that if we somehow could convert all our corn production and even perhaps additional available land for more corn, and somehow build the multi-million-dollar processing plants and somehow find enough groundwater to support the processing operation – at best we might reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 2.5 %. That’s TWO POINT FIVE PERCENT!

Let’s look at subsidies.

Big oil will no doubt be involved. Do they need any sort of subsidy?

Large agricultural corporations like ADM and Cargill will want in on the action. Do they need a financial boost?

Local farmers who grow corn have seen their prices rise dramatically – partly based on supply and demand and partly on speculation. So they are getting more for their crop than before. But they are getting some sort of windfall since their prices for fuel and fertilizer and other operating costs have gone up. I just read about a Mississippi family who switched from cotton to corn for more profits. That is their choice but if we structure our system to encourage much more of this – one more industry will be shoved out – overseas – maybe it is already.

So who needs the subsidy?

Locally there is an issue about putting one of the ethanol refineries near a small town. The citizens are up in arms that such an operation could begin to eat up their precious water supply among other things.

Do the folks who want to build the plant need a subsidy? I undertstand a little about economic development and enticing businesses. I also understand that government often has to build the infrastructure on which these businesses ride.

But the government is not a bank or a loan company (you could debate this point on several levels). If I want to start up a chocolate business – I can’t expect the government to give me a chunk of money and to start encouraging people to eat chocolate. I’ll get enough tax breaks and incentives just the way the tax code is written now to write off lots of things against my potential profits.

Other issues at stake? Did I mention groundwater? I can’t quote figures but the ethanol plants require lots and lots of water to convert the corn into cellulose and then into what ever it is that ends up being ethanol.

For a nice short summary of why ethanol may not be the thing that solves our energy problems – read George Will in Newsweek (Feb. 11, 2008 Bio-Fuel Follies)

Anybody remember the dust bowl? I am way over-simplifying but part of the problem as I recall was so much crop land had been tilled and tilled and then a few dry years come along and all the top soil blows away. I am not a farmer of row crops but I know that corn is hard on the soil. It uses up nutrients and wears it out so you just can’t keep planting corn year after year without giving the land a rest.

I am a farmer or raiser of sheep so I can relate to the rising cost of feed. Just a few weeks ago I went to buy more and the price per 100 pounds had gone up more than $1 in just one month. I know part of this is the price of oil but it is also pegged to the price of corn and all the other commodities that go into feed.

As with so many things, when you push down in one place (subsidies for ethanol) things will simply pop up somewhere else (rising grain prices – erosion – lowering the water table etc.)

I think it is unfair for the State Govt. to start endorsing through a subsidy a business that has not been proven environmentally safe, absolutely necessary and may in and of itself just be a plain old bad idea.

Super Tuesday

2008-02-07T17:03:00.000-06:00

Two observations:

When I arrived at my little dinky town’s community center to vote I was asked “Democrat or Republican?”

Two questions come to mind:

1 – This doesn’t make my secret ballot very secret does it? No offense to the four nice ladies who sat behind the table but if one of them wanted to spread the word that “hey, that guy voted Republican,” they could.

2 - I was not tempted nor do I care but what about the Libertarians? I was not asked if I wanted to vote for them.

This from the Waynesville Daily Guide on Tuesday:

“In Missouri, voters also have a third choice. While there’s no party registration in Missouri, voters must pick a Republican, Democratic or Libertarian Party ballot.”

Maybe they just forgot to ask me. Or maybe they remembered I voted Republican last time. (See item#1)

Internet Sales Tax

2008-02-07T17:02:00.000-06:00

I still don’t understand why the “moratorium” on collecting sales taxes on things sold over the internet is still mostly in place.

I’m sure this was someone’s bright idea back when the internet was fledgling and somehow asking people to pay the normal 5 – 6 – 7 % sales tax on something they bought out-of-state would cripple this nascent industry.

If Microsoft can offer up $50 billion or whatever incomprehensible amount of money for Yahoo – the internet is doing just fine thank you.

And in the meantime states and cities have lost out on untold millions or even billions in sale tax revenues that could be helping with infrastructure and other things that cost money.

With my limited knowledge of economics I think all that would happen is that some states that don’t have a sales tax might see more internet shoppers and business come there way.

But while I enjoy not having to pay sales tax on some of my internet purchases, it wouldn’t keep me away. I don’t stop going to WalMart because of my local sales tax.

Politicians seem to think this is some sort of good thing but I think it is shortsighted.

We already have to pay tax on some internet purchases – for instance if I buy on-line from Target I have to pay because they have a physical location in Missouri even though my merch may come from who knows where.

I don’t think this would slow down our economy one bit and I don’t think the internet would even hiccup.

the Fat Lady hasn't sung (yet)

2008-01-30T12:16:00.000-06:00

Millions of column inches and hours of airtime will be spent dissecting the various turning points as a result of the Florida primary yesterday (1/29).

Giuliani's 3rd place will probably overshadow McCain's win for a bit as people 2nd guess his 2nd guessing. No doubt his decision to put all his eggs in the one big basket so late (who'd have thunk late January would be considered late in a political campaign?) will be mulled over by many a pundit for days and weeks to come.

Huckabee is almost an afterthought now. While I'm sure they can't relate to him on any level, I still think it was more than just a slight that the NY Times on-line front-page mentions the GOP race being now down to two. Huckabee was just in Missouri yesterday talking about the importance of MO in his quest. Did he drop out sometime between 10 p.m. last night and this morning?

Here's my latest without any further on the events of yesterday.

I think in a head-to-head, McCain has a chance against Clinton. He's no Bob Dole if you remember that Clinton v. somebody election.

But in the event of a McCain v. Obama race (I know I'm getting ahead of myself here since Romney is still doing pretty well.) I think McCain does become Bob Dole and the election is over before it even starts. Unless ....

I've told a version of this story before but it was about Bush 43 and Karl Rove back near the end of his first term.

In my opinion, the only way, but a pretty sure-fire way for McCain to beat Obama, is to find and put a superb minority candidate on his ticket (and promise to only run and serve for one term.) I don't even know who this person is - a Hispanic? African-American? Woman? I'll bet if you can get two-out-of-three from this list it will be a landslide! This is not a racist statement - just an observation and hopefully good politics.

The GOP for too long has either ignored or taken for granted minorities. I'm still not seeing any grass-roots efforts to bring talented minorities up through the ranks. Why doesn't the RNC have a farm system and a program to recruit and train young minorities to be running for school boards, city councils etc.? I was just reading this week and was reminded of Bush 43's snub of the NAACP years ago. If I can still remember that, so can bunches of other folk.

So if McCain can keep up his momentum and not in a way that presumes anything, announce he'd like so-and-so to serve as his VP, and that so-n-so happens to be a minority, just imagine how galvanizing that would be. And while he is far from perfect the first name that pops into my head is Colin Powell. I know in many ways he's more like Giuliani, but he has so many other strengths.

Locally the rumors are that soon-to-be former Guv of MO, Matt Blunt is the likely choice for a VP if Romney gets the GOP nod. All I think of is that you have two pieces of white bread and no sandwich! I don't really know what that means but it sounded funny!

I've expressed some interest in McCain around my office and I am immediately greeted with the polite equivalent of hoots and hollers. But while he may not be my ideal person either, I think he has the Presidential stuff and just as important, I think he can win against either of the two Democratic possibilities. In the long and short term, that is hugely important.

I know I only have a few faithful readers but I'd really like to hear some minority names floated as possible VPs.

Over the Hill

2008-01-29T12:22:00.000-06:00

Last Friday was one of those too rare occasions when my wife and I got out for an evening together. After a bite at her fave Steak and Shake, we headed to the movies. Our choices were limited somewhat by time unless we wanted to catch a really late movie. So we opted for the Bucket List. I'll not review that here; just that it is OK. You mostly get to see Jack Nicholson being Jack Nicholson. But it has its sweet moments. And I always like Morgan Freeman.

But my moment happened when I bought our tickets. My wife was in the car so I stood in line alone. I got to the window and said "Two for Bucket List please." and the nice young man on the other side of the probably unbreakable security glass asked: "Are either of you Senior Citizens?" Since it was just ME standing there, who else was he asking about?

I guess I have enough gray in my beard now to give away that I am no longer part of the younger generation. It is only fitting to reach the rank of "old fart" when I am going to see a movie that is basically about two old farts.

911

2008-01-26T22:27:00.000-06:00

I made my first-ever call to 911 today. And I have to say even in our dinky little town in our dinky little county, the guy who answered the phone was professional, asked all the right questions and we had someone to our place within probably ten minutes – maybe less.

I should back up.

I spent most of the day cutting firewood. My wife and oldest daughter were out with our mowers trying to knock down what is left of our pasture. Today was breezy, early-spring-like. Did I say anything about the wind blowing?

My wife decided to see if she could burn off some of the remaining stands of Johnson grass in our hay pasture. I didn’t know this until I saw some smoke on the far side of our pasture. She’s done this before so I wasn’t too worried. Except; have I mentioned it was a little on the windy side today?

After a few minutes it was obvious that the fire had grown a bit bigger than my wife had intended. So we broke out all our buckets, connected all our hoses and headed off to squelch the growing grass fire.

After about an hour of hauling buckets and trying to stamp it out it was obvious the fire was moving faster than we could put it out. It was never very big but spread out over a couple of hundred feet and moving east toward the woods and our neighbors beyond that.

So I break out my cell phone and call 911. Yep, we even have 911 way out here.

Two guys showed up with a pick-up that had a large tank in the back. For a minute it didn’t sound like their motor for their pump was going to start. But it did.

I had told the operator that I hoped this call wasn’t a false alarm and I was partly right. By the time the volunteer guys arrived, it was pretty well under control and only a few spots were flaring up.

They made couple of passes around the blackened area and sprayed water all around.

They chatted with my wife for a bit and were on their way. But they did ask her if we had paid our dues.

See, in rural areas most fire departments are volunteers. You typically pay a small yearly fee (I think ours went up to $50 this year.) I don’t know what happens if you don’t pay – I guess they charge a fee or send a bill or something.

The moral of course is to not burn when conditions are dry or windy. We are/were probably lucky. I doubt my wife will be so eager to burn off pasture anymore.

The second moral is to pay your Rural Fire Dues or whatever they call them. And next time they stop you at an intersection with a boot collecting change for whatever – toss in what you have.

Being stupid

2008-01-25T12:40:00.000-06:00

I did my share of this yesterday. Went to the feed store to pick up some minerals for our sheep. They come in these metal tubs and weigh more than 125 lbs. I got two. Went on to work.

Later I had to go to the post office - can't believe we still have to do that - and on my way I needed to change lanes. I was next to a woman in an SUV talking on her cell. She was in no hurry but going just fast enough that I couldn't easily get around her. Behind her was a pretty long line of cars. So I decided to goose it a little (the old truck still has some get-up-n-go!) and get in front of her to make my turn. I did and soon pulled in to park at the P.O. While walking from my truck I noticed I had only ONE mineral tub. It took about two or three seconds to realize it must have slid out when I did my Mario Andretti thing. I hadn't gone far so I walked out to the road and sure enough, about a block back was my tub, sitting patiently by the curb.

I jumped back in, drove as close to it as I could get - this is a busy street and nowhere on the street to stop and park. I had to park at a Scrambler's. This sits up a small rise from the street where my 125 lb. tub lay. I was also decently dressed and had an event coming up in about 20 minutes. So I rolled the tub up the hill and then had to figure how to get it up into my truck. My 3/4 ton sits rather high up so I was looking at getting this thing up about waist high. Somehow I had to do that without hurting my aging back nor soiling or tearing my reasonably clean and nice clothes. I did it in stages. Got my spare tire out and set the tub on it. Then using a couple of blocks of wood, got it slightly higher. Then I used a 5 gallon bucket - there's a reason to keep all this stuff in the back of my truck. Finally I got it within dragging distance of the pick-up bed. I climbed up, bent way over, said a prayer that I wouldn't destroy my back, and dragged the thing into the bed. I can lift 125 pounds but this thing is about 2 or more foot wide, does not have handy handles and remember my clothes.

I drove back to finish my P.O. business and my cell phone rang. "Hi, this is Lee from SoMo. Do you still have your barrels?" I answered I did, then I didn't but then I did again and explained my story. He said one of his drivers somehow just happened along during the time I lost my tub until I recovered it (couldn't have been more than 5 minutes). Since I was the only person who had bought those on this day, he knew it had to be mine so he looked up my account and called me.

I'm reading a book now called Forty Acres and a Fool. Reasonably funny but the author talks about the advantages of living in a small town. Even though Springfield is 150K plus and not too small, I guess it is small enough for word to travel pretty fast about the stupid things people do. Next time I am tempted to be in a hurry, I'll hopefully recall this, my sore back and my good fortune.

Ya'll come!

2008-01-24T12:30:00.000-06:00

I was watching a video today on the website ted.com
which is a compilation of an annual conference focused on technology, the arts etc. and very expensive to attend. But they put all their speakers on the web and it is a good resource.

The speaker was from South Carolina but started talking about Hungary (for a bit). Now he admits he doesn't even have a drop of Hungarian blood. But his heavy southern accented speech reminded me of some old friends (both deceased) from back in the 70s.

Walter and Edelwiess Kaschel. They were Brazilians from Sao Paolo. They had come to my work in Akron, Ohio to help translate a TV program into Portuguese. Walter had spent years as the voice of Billy Graham in Brazil. He served as the on-stage translator for Graham's rallies in Brazil. They were the sweetest couple I may have ever known. By the time I met them both were in their 60s and I was a young man in my mid-20s.

The point of this is to remark on their spoken English. Both spoke impeccable English having been trained as translators and serving in this challenging profession for decades.

But in the 50s they came to the U.S. to study at a Bible school. It happened to be in southern Louisiana. If you've ever heard any native Louisianian speakers then you can appreciate the humor here. Here they were, temporary immigrants to the U.S., in northern Ohio which is known for its lack of discernible accent, and they would jump from their perfect Brazilian Portuguese into the patois of a Cajun and back to Portuguese. I guess just like a child grows up with an accent that reflects who he grows up hearing, some if not all non-native English speakers are going to adopt the cadences and accents of the people they hear speaking English. As a kid in Texas we used to see these commercials for Wolf brand chili and their spokesperson was Justin Wilson; a Cajun comedian. If you've heard Mr. Wilson, you know the accent I am talking about.

I only spent about a year or so working with them but they were and are special people.

God Bless both of them.

Recession? What Recession?

2008-01-23T21:07:00.000-06:00

First off I am no economist and don't really understand markets, commodities - how all the things are supposed to work. But I am hearing/reading that we are in or very near a recession once again. My limited vocabulary says that in a recession there is no growth. I believe that one - if it explains why I haven't had a raise of any decent amount in years. But I also thought that in a recession, prices remained stable or perhaps even dropped somewhat as interest went lower etc. I may have this all backwards.

But two major things jump out at me. 1) Gas prices. They are once again creeping down ever so slightly but this after a really big jump to almost $3/gal. late in 07. We are still only down to the low 2.70s now. 2) Feed.

I bought a ton (literally 2000 lbs.) of feed today for our sheep and 2 cows. In December I paid $4.75/50 lb. bag. Today for the same mix I paid $5.20. That's 45 cents or almost 10%! Holy cow! I tried to talk to the feed store people about commodity pricing and ethanol but I got in way over my head in a hurry so made a hasty and tactful retreat.

I guess I don't understand why if the powers-that-be want our economy to grow, why are prices going up? If they want to stimulate spending of the supposed tax rebate we may end up getting, shouldn't part of the goal be to keep prices at least flat?

And I am more confused than ever about ethanol. If indeed this is why my grain went up 10%, where did this extra go? If it went to a farmer who has been trying to make a living growing corn for his whole life, then you know what? I can handle that. But if it went to big corporate farms who are getting subsidized by the Govt. to grow corn, so they can in turn use up scarce groundwater to make a fuel that is only marginally cheaper but in the long run uses more resources and provide LESS mpg. than regular reduced octane unleaded already does - then I think that is patently unfair. I want my money back!

A politically savvy friend told me today that he thinks Romney is going to win because he is the one who can with some degree of confidence and believability, say to Americans, "I can get us out of this mess."

I don't know. I'm not a Romney fan but if he is the choice of the GOP against almost anybody from the other side, then ...

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

2008-01-22T12:29:00.000-06:00

I guess with an Irish-wife - OK almost Irish - red-head, great-grandfather (I think) from County Cork - that should count for something - somehow I heard about this movie; The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

OK caution - if you are offended by the "f-word" whether in English or heavily accented English spoken by Irishmen or in subtitles - then maybe you don't want to watch this. I didn't even try to keep count but next to "lads" and "grand" as in "I am grand," this has to be the most widely used word in the Irish vocabulary in the early 20th century. The Brits liked it too.

The story is way too complicated to recount. Suffice it to say it helps understand a little about the history of Ireland and her struggle with Britain. Trust me - if you don't already hate all things British, you will after watching this movie.

The history is way-too-complex to understand but it made me want to re-read Trinity by Leon Uris and to find another set of books by a woman named Morgan Llywelyn. Their titles are the numbers of years - 1916, 1921, 1949 and 1972 - which I guess are particularly significant in Irish history. I'll find out.

I know people will try to draw parallels and used the terrorism used by the IRA and others to in some weird way justify (or elicit sympathy for) the actions of radical Islamic terrorists but I would quickly point out that while I don't really care for the war in Iraq, our goal is not to run that country, occupy it for any longer than we have to and with few egregious exceptions, we don't rape and pillage the countryside in the name of democracy.

As I understand it, Ireland wanted to be free from British rule (does this story sound familiar?) and some - and you could call them radicals - used tactics that we could call terrorism. I'm not condoning what they did when lives were lost and property was destroyed but I can at least understand the desperate situation they were in. And while I'm sure some of the British soldiers were stereotyped, if they were half as bad as they were made out to be, then I can also understand the reaction of the Irish to these "occupiers" who made life miserable for the locals.

I plan to read up again on this situation and while I know I can never completely understand the two sides here, I'd like to have a better handle on this one. Maybe after this I'll tackle the whole mess in then-Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Croatia and what are now the - countries I can't name or pronounce.

What friends (and neighbors) are for

2008-01-22T12:13:00.000-06:00

We've been trying to sell a big ole grain bin - a tall red thing in which you can store almost 6,000 pounds of grain. Nothing wrong with it - just that my wife found some cheaper grain in bags that works better for us.

After several weeks of no calls from little notes I put up in all the local feed stores, I got a nibble. The nibble turned into a bite and the guy wanted to come see it and most likely take it.

Only problem is, the thing is about 10 ft. tall and heavy - even when empty. So it takes a tractor to set it up or take it down.

I asked a neighbor if one of her two sons (who will usually do anything to make an extra dollar here and there) could get a tractor with a bucket to help me set it over onto a trailer. I guess one of them had been a bad boy with grandpa's tractor so it couldn't be borrowed.

I asked another neighbor who also goes to our church if they had a tractor and could possibly help. I mentioned that I had planned on paying some young men so she could pass along that I wasn't looking for a complete and total favor - there was some money to be made.

The weekend comes, I get the call so I ask officially about their help. We agree on a time - everything is set.

I really thought the job would take about 10-15 minutes but as things usually work out - it took almost an hour. I was feeling bad about the amount of time, time spent in the very cold and of course fuel as their rather large tractor was running the entire time.

We finished up, no one got hurt and the bin survived the man-handling one more time.

I dashed inside to get my checkbook to write out a couple of checks before my neighbors could leave. We spent a few minutes wrestling as I tried to shove the checks in a coat pocket. I finally succeeded only to be chased outside being told, "No, no." I ended up taking the money back, said "thank you" over and over but was told; "That's what neighbors are for."

This still takes some getting used to for me. I don't like asking for favors, I hate being a bother.

But here's a sort of public thanks to David and Scotty.

Thanks.

Fair and Balanced

2008-01-11T15:10:00.000-06:00

Today while having a chat with a staff member he said and I loosely quote: “I may not always agree with you but I think your are fair and honest.”

I may not be a lot of things people wish I was but if I can be and do those two things on a regular basis, then I will be doing OK.

New Hampshire – what else?

2008-01-10T22:18:00.000-06:00

Everybody is falling all over themselves about how they missed the boat with Barrack and Hilary. I wasn’t surprised at all.

Whether they like her or not, being a Senator from the nearby state of NY and wife of the guy who made his own comeback in NH way back in 1992, makes her a neighbor and someone they are more likely to vote for. Iowa is simply not New Hampshire. And to take this risky blog one step further – in that area given the choice to vote for a minority or a woman; I’d say many clearly felt they could accept a woman (especially one they know about – whether they particularly like her or not) over a less well-known minority.

Another related question – now that Richardson is out – where will his votes go? More than likely to Obama.

And another related thought based on a NY Times (yes even conservatives read the NY Times.) One blogger noted that Obama really didn’t lose NH, Hillary just won. His clarification was that Obama got about as many votes as the polling people said he would. Where they missed the boat was that Hillary got a lot more. What that means to me is that in the final days she somehow got people to go out and vote who may not have planned to do so, i.e. to a pollster, this person wouldn’t have shown up in their polls or at the polls. This is still significant (if true) because you have to wonder/ask how she managed to influence people to get out and vote that hadn’t planned to. From what I’ve heard NH voters are anything but apathetic so she stirred up something in people. Honestly I’d expect the opposite results if she stirred something up; i.e. that folks would be prodded to vote AGAINST her and decide at the last minute to do so. Just musing.

I heard a short piece on NPR Tuesday as they were recapping and one spot stands out: a gentleman said he voted for someone but he didn’t make up his mind until he actually went into the booth or whatever they do in NH. That scares me!

Being undecided is one thing but right up until the moment of casting your vote? That’s why they don’t allow electioneering within so many feet of the polling places.

I propose a new rule – no ads, phone banks, door-to-door etc. within 24 hours of an election. Give people time to sit down, sort out the whos and whats and how they want to vote without being influenced by what are mostly empty promises or lip service anyway.

Another development in NH that plays into what I think is going to happen. McCain’s own comeback. Romney’s slip.

I like Mike but I don’t think he is presidential yet. Could be. Might be. McCain is presidential. With the way things are starting to shape up here’s my idea or maybe it is a proposal.

McCain picks up steam. Raises more money. Challengers begin to fall by the wayside. Before he hits the big Super Tuesday primaries etc. he announces that: 1) he promises to only serve for one term (he’s 71 years old remember?) and 2) he has selected Mike Huckabee as his potential running mate. I think one or both of these would slingshot him way past Romney and put him in the cat-bird seat.

Just remember this post in a few months.

We’ll see how this whole thing shapes up after South Carolina soon.

Almost a Good Samaritan

2008-01-02T12:35:00.000-06:00

New Years eve is ripe for interesting experiences and this past one was no exception.

I was returning from Pizza Hut with some pizzas, a few Cokes, a ½ gallon of ice cream and two of my younger daughters when we came upon some cars stopping in the road.

It was early but already dark so I saw taillights as I approached a curve atop a long hill. I pulled behind the few other stopped cars and turned on my flashers. It was obvious some sort of accident had occurred, just not how bad or what or who was involved. I told the girls to stay buckled while I went to check things out.

I noticed a woman standing to the side and she had blood running down her face. Somehow I got the mistaken impression that she was OK and that the guy running around with a cell-phone pressed to his ear, was her husband. I ran ahead to where I could see several people standing around a badly damaged pick-up to see if anyone was hurt. No one was so I turned around. As I walked back to my van I could see taillights far away down the hill in a pasture.

I stopped back by the bleeding woman and tried to get her to sit down. She said she was afraid she might not get back up. I checked on my girls and called my wife.

The scene quickly became a traffic mess with dozens or cars trying to get by, the arrival of several emergency vehicles etc.

In all this no one seemed to be attending to the woman off to the side. I went back to see if she would get into my car to keep warm. She let me take her arm and I led her to the front seat. I explained to my girls and sort of introduced them although it wasn’t until later that I learned the woman’s name; Ashley. I sat with her for a couple of minutes, prayed for her, then I went looking for an EMT.

I told the first official looking woman I saw that I had an injured person in my car. Pretty quickly Ashley was attended to by this EMT and eventually three or four others. One climbed in the back-seat and asked my girls to move to the rear. They all began working on Ashley’s head and neck and put on a neck-brace.

I decided it might be better to stay outside while all this was going on. While I was in front of my car an EMT started across the road carrying a big stretcher-type board. He was looking to his right while to his left a car was coming up pretty fast. I jumped out in the road and yelled at the driver and put my hands up. He stopped and the EMT crossed. Then I got yelled at by a man in a Sheriff’s coat who told me to stay out of the road. That they had traffic under control and I was only confusing the drivers. I tried to explain that the EMT was about to be hit and I was getting the drivers attention. He told me again to stay out of the road.

The EMTs worked on Ashley for several minutes before they moved her from my car to the board thing which they used to carry her to a wheeled gurney. They got her loaded in the ambulance and that was that. But now I was still stuck with a Fire Truck in front of me, the road blocked and nowhere to go.

I walked to the Sheriff that had yelled at me and asked if I could go and he said I could and wished me Happy New Year. As I was pulling away the first EMT came over to tell me thanks for my help.

So with two very hungry girls, some cool pizza and melted ice cream we headed home, having spent perhaps an hour at the accident scene.

No one ever figured out exactly what happened except that Ashley apparently crested the hill, saw someone either in her lane or crossing the road and over-corrected causing her to lose control and careen several hundred feet down the hill. I’m amazed she made it out of her totaled car, up the hill, over some barb-wire fence and back to the accident scene.