ruminations

THE PEACE CORPS

2012-01-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

For many years the US has been funding the Peace Corps. The object seems to be to improve the lives of poor people throughout the world, even countries not friendly towards us. We even have volunteers in China. How benevolent we are. Doesn't this make you feel good ?

A few days ago the Peace Corps announced that, for safety reasons, it was withdrawing its volunteers from Honduras. This is a tiny impoverished South American country with a population of scarcely 6,000,000 souls. They withdrew an astonishing 128 volunteers. There are a large number of poor countries in Africa, Asia and South America. We send an indeterminate number of volunteers to almost all of them.

Although it was not possible for me to determine the number of countries and the number of volunteers, I deduced that the numbers are certainly in the many thousands. From a statistic buried in an article on the inter net, I was able to make an educated guess that the program costs about $ 500,000,000. This is chump change by Washington standards. What a bargain, we are told.

Has this bought us much good will ? Much of the world hates us. This is a stupid, wasteful program. It seems like an excellent place to start cutting the federal deficit . Lets get rid of the Peace corps. That would make me feel good.

A SHORT HISTORY OF LEE

2012-01-11T14:06:00.000-08:00

Born 1923

Lee lived in Mexico until 1966.He lived with our Mother until her death in 1966. He took his modest inheritance and went to Italy where he lived for 9 or ten years until he ran out of money.He returned to St.Louis ad lived there until about 1993, He then moved to Houston where he lived until his death in 2003,

For all his numerous faults and shortcomings, he was a charmer. He made friends easily but was fickle and discarded them quickly.. But he was charming. I enjoyed his company and find that I miss him.

Offsetting good qualities: he was funny, thoughtful and generous.Truly a strange and interesting person.

LEE ME AND DAD

2012-01-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I underwent for the fourth time what my urologist likes to call a procedure, his peculiar term for an operation. I hope that this will be the last one and I will finally be cured oF my long standing malady. Unfortunately, DR.Limm arrived for the procedure one hour late which left me in the tiny pre-op cubicle for several hours. With nothing to do, I allowed my mind to drift back in time and I recalled the following.

Dad was a tall dashing handsome man, a firm but just disciplinarian. Lee was a rebellious, indolent, disobedient liar. On several occasions he told me that he hated our father. I, on the other hand, was an excellent child, looking at all times for parental approval.

I recall the following as if it were yesterday. I was about 15 years old and Lee a year or two older. Lee to Dad : "Have you heard this joke about Confusious ? Confusious say, it unsanitary to cook carrot and pea in same pot". Our Dad, nor known as an uproarious laugher, laughed uproariously. Not to be outdone I said- "Dad, have your heaRD this Confusious joke? Confusious say, he who break wind in church must sit in own pew." Dad's brow contracted Ina frown.
". That's utterly disgusting" he shouted.

I have wondered if there was some lesson to be learned from this. If so, I have not been able to find it. What I do know is that my feelings were hurt. Even today, 70 years later, when I think of this I have a tinge of sorrow.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS ET AL

2011-12-30T13:38:00.000-08:00

As I have in the past , there are certain resolutions which I renew each year.I hereby solemnly swear to eat no egg plants or Brussels sprouts, two of the most disgusting so called foods often consumed by people of omnivorous taste. This year I have added a third item, cous-cous. I have never tasted a cous-cous nor have I ever seen one. I do not intend ever to do so. The ridiculous name is a complete turn-off and on this basis they make the list of new years resolution no-nos.

On a different subject, I understand that it is customary to list those things for which we are thankful during the now ending 2011. Mainly I give thanks for my extended family of smart ,funny ,loving people who surround me and Jan during holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. I doubt if there is another family anywhere with everyone liking one another. I sit back in wonder as they engage in Boggle, poker, pimg pong, and other games and pass times, filled with fun and laughter. For me these are the best of times.

KILLING GINGRICH

2011-12-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

Killing Lincoln is a book by Bill O'Reilly with an assist with Martin Dugard. We know that O'Reilly is a good writer. He has published several best sellers. This book is no exception. He sets the stage for Lincoln's assassination which we know is going to happen. I haven't gottem that far in the book yet. He writes in such a learned manner that I suspect that his co-author did most of the research. I highly recommend this book.

Which brings me to another method of getting rid of political figures. My choice for president among the candidates is Gingrich above all the others. However he is being eviscerated by his fellow candidates and by much of the media. Even National Revue, heretofore a bastion of conservatism has chimed in. At this point, he has probably been eliminated as our next president.They might just has well have put bullet in his head. What a disgusting spectacle !

AGE RELATED AILMENTS

2011-11-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

As the years accumulate one finds many things going wrong. Most are minor irritants such as creaky joints, ingrown toenails, and odd unsightly spots popping out at inconvenient places. Then there are the major old age maladies which one does not wish to discuss in thus venue.

But the latest malady is dandruff. Some time ago I suffered an outbreak of dandruff of unbelievable virulence. I tried every known OTC remedy to no avail. Finally I tried Johnson&Johnson baby shampoo.Like a miracle, one application and the problem seems to be solved. I wonder if I should tell J&J about this and perhaps they will send me a huge check for my discovery.

MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

2011-10-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

1)V.P.Joe Biden has, up till now, been a fairly handsome man. Suddenly his physiognomy has undergone a very noticeable change. I suspect a botox treatment gone bad. He looks terrible. He has always been an idiot but some of his recent statements make me believe that he has actually gone mad. I think he should be removed from office.

2)The US government from time to time issues it's estimate of the ongoing inflation (i.e the debasement of our currency ). These estimates seem to have very little to do with reality. Evidence of this is readily available in your local food market. This was brought forcibly to my attention when I discovered, to my chagrin, that a six pack of beer has gone up by a dollar, a 20% increase in price.

3)Bloomberg, mayor of NY city has shown himself to be gutless. He has failed to control the bunch of unwashed freaks that are messing up his city. This bunch, it seems to me, are a conglomeration of clueless individuals, many of them spouting anti US and anti capitalism statements. I suspect that behind them is a socialist or Communist sentiment which is spooky to say the least and perhaps even dangerous. My hope is that NY experience a particularly cold winter. That might chill their ardor.

4)I really am getting tired of these endless so called debates by the Republican candidates. They are doing great harm to each other and are solving nothing.

ELECTRIC SHAVERS AND POLITICS

2011-10-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have used electric shavers for years. My previous one was a Remington ( Shaves closer than a blade or your money back )which never lived up to it's slogan. I had a five o'clock shadow right after shaving. Not very satisfactory. I never did get my money back.

My birthday benefactors, in a stroke of genius, got together and presented me with a new shaver, a Panasonic. What a difference ! This one really does shave closer than a blade. It looks quite complicated but by ignoring the thick instruction book I was able the charge the device up and shave. I was told that I must use it for a month to get used to it. My first shave was a revelation. I was used to it at once and got the closest trim of my life. Whatever it cost, it was worth every penny.

Now back to politics ( one of my favorite subjects ). I can hardly believe that I favor Herman Cain for president. Another black guy in the WH ? This one is different. Perry ( alas ) has faded and Romney ( I like him ) does not inspire. I hesitate to predict that Cain will be the candidate but if he is I will gladly vote for him. Meanwhile, Rubio continues to have a lock on the VP position and this will line him up as president the next time around.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

2011-09-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

Doctors orders: Drink more water ! I cannot recall ever drinking water for the first 82 years of my life and survived in reasonable health. Now I take on enormous amounts of H2O. I started this drinking only the best( or so I thought ). It turns out that there is an great controversy over the merits of distilled over tap water. Tap water seems to have won and now that is what I drink with its horrible chlorine and fluoride.

What a shame that the Feds poke their noses into all phases of our lives. They have made a mess of the education of our kids to the tune of $100,000,ooo ,000 or more. Somehow it has become the duty of the government to feed the kids. How nice for the parents to be relieved of this responsibility.

The Feds also seem to think that every one should own a home whether or not they can afford it. What a pretty kettle if fish this has made of the ruined real estate market

My love of country knows no bounds. You may call me a jingoist and I will take it as a compliment. I do not need the symbolism of the flag or the anthem ( an ugly piece of music ) to stir my patriotic feelings.

Awl yew due knot knead two no.(ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER)

2011-09-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

The ridiculous monstrosity now under construction at ground zero is to be 1776 feet tall and 195 stories high. This building is to be hardened in such a way as to be virtually terror proof. New technologies are being used. A new and special type of concrete and specialty steel frame are incorporated. 70 high speed elevators are apparently needed to keep each floor properly accessible. An express ride to the top will take one minute. A special design and shape of the upper floors will minimize wind resistance. I often wonder how water is supplied to the upper floors. It surely requires pumps. What happens in case of a power failure ?. Three other buildings are also under construction at this site.

It is said that the buildings will be beautiful. My personal preference would have been a nice park

PREDICTION

2011-08-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

I can now tell with certainty who the next president and vice president of the US will be.

Rick Perry, Texas governor is it.He speaks clearly and openly about his opinions, some of them controversial. Just the other day he came out squarely against same sex marriage and in one moment lost the homosexual vote. That isn't all bad. Most vote Democratic anyway.

Meanwhile, Obama has lost the Jewish vote due to his covert anti Israel agenda. The Jewish vote for reasons that I don't understand, has heretofore voted overwhelmingly Democratic but that surely will change in the 2012 election.

40 year old Marco Rubio, Cuban American senator from Florida seems almost too good to be true. He is unbelievably handsome, eloquent, university professor, published author. Previously speaker of the Florida house of reps. and now a US senator. He spouses all that is good about conservatives. The Latino vote, heretofore overwhelmingly Democratic will certainly swing the other way.

So that's the ticket-Perry Rubio. I'll bet the farm on it.

HEALTH PROBLEMS

2011-08-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

Heretofore I have eschewed discussing such things as referred to in the title of this blog. For the last two years a recurring problem has manifested itself causing constant worry . Several trips to the ER and a couple of short hospital stays have so far failed to fix me up. Very depressing.

My numerous readers may have wondered why I have failed to blog for a few weeks now. If health permits, I shall try do better . It helps me keep my good spirits up.

SECRETS OF THE DEAD (Aztec massacre)

2011-07-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

PBS has done it again. This great program kept us enthralled . It was the story of the Aztecs and their decline. When Cortes arrived, the Aztecs dominated a large part of central Mexico, using strong arm tactics against the surrounding tribes, principally the Tlaxcalans. The Aztec culture was quite advanced in many ways but primitave in religious practices which included human sacrifuce and rectual canibalism.

Cortes, with a small and stalwart band of men invaded and, with aid of the Tlaxcalans was able to enter Tenochtitlan ( now Mexico City), Their first foray was not successful but later they returned and destroyed the city block by block. Small pox decimated the Indians, making the final conquest easier. This short explanation hardly does justice to the wonders of this history.

My family did have a tiny echo of these historic times. When I was about 12 or 13 my family purchased the historic Los Naranjos, built originally by a Cortes officer. The place was in ruins but it was restored beautifully. As it happened, there was no municipal drainage in Coyoacan and so a large hole was excavated for a septic tank. In this hole there were many pieces of Aztec pottery, mostly destroyed by the careless peons who did the digging. However, two beautiful pieces were recovered intact. I remember them well. All I have is memories. Somehow in the ensuing years these priceless items disappeared.

A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT JEWS

2011-07-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

The Jews cling to their identity in spite of the terrible things that have been done to them. They have been herded into ghettos, exiled, and slaughtered. Somehow they have survived. Many of them have come to the US which is a relatively safe haven for them.

The American Jew has been subjected to some hardships. There has been a pervasive , covert anti Jewish feeling shared by many. In my younger days the stereotypical Jew was pictured as a loud, pushy, obnoxious New Yorker. Clubs, corporations and universities excluded them. In spite of this they prospered. They avidly pursued education. Although they make up less than 3% of the population, their contributions to medicine, science, music, the arts, literature,and more are outstanding. They are powerful politically all out of proportion to their tiny numbers.

50+ years ago the Balfore declaration allowed the establishment of the State of Israel. Now, about 6 million of them are showing what remarkable people they are. From their tiny strip of desert they have created a powerful industrialized island. They are surrounded by ignorant, poverty stricken Arabs and Muslims whose envy and hatred knows no bounds. Only the US can prevent the overrunning of Israel and the current US administration does not show the support that heretofore they have previously enjoyed.

Today the anti Jewish feeling is fast disappearing. My personal feeling is one of great admiration. I love Israel.

A FOOL AND HIS MONEY ARE SOON PARTED

2011-07-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

With a flurry of media attention,Prince what's his name and his bony bride arrived in California. What's his name played in a polo match. To play against him cost a cool $50,000. To play on WHN's team cost only $100,000. Those who wished to watch this spectacle could do so for $400 unless they wanted to hang around with the skinny princess in which case it was $4,000. The princess, by the way, wore a dress designed by Jenny Packham. We are safe in assuming that Miss Jenny provided the gown free of charge so that her name could be mentioned.

So the motive for this over reported trip appears to be a money making scheme. The enormous amount collected should keep the royals comfortably for a few months of their lavish lifestyle.

The fading monarchy is on life support. It serves no purpose whatsoever. But the suckers will continue to bow and scrape and pay big bucks for the privilege of debasing themselves in the presence of the likes of prince WHN

LAWNS

2011-07-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

In the 17th century the only people with lawns were the royals and aristocrats. They mowed with goats and sheep. Lawns slowly spread to the US suburbs as a status symbol. Now they are a symbol of leisure and prosperity. It is now a heavy burden for over 80% of homeowners.

Mowing, fertilizing and watering are constant tasks. An enormous industry has been created. More water is consumed for lawn care than farmers use to raise corn wheat, or any other agricultural product. Some experts estimate that over 1/3 of water from public sources goes toward landscaping. In some of the drier states, this may rise to 70%.

Environment: Lawns are damaging to the environment. Fertilizer and pesticide runoff pollute our steams and lakes. Gasoline mowers emit as much pollution as 11 automobiles. There now exists an anti lawn lobby.

I wonder what people did for their yards before the age of lawns.

MORE CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

2011-07-02T07:05:00.000-07:00

My recent blog about Mexico reminded me that I lived through the latter part of the Mexican revolution. I was just a child during the Calles regime (l928/1934)

In 1929 or 31 my Dad was still flush from his successful stock market plays.Carl, Dean, Lee and I were bundled off to an upscale boys summer camp in Wisconsin. Soon after that the disastrous world depression caught up with us and Dad had to sell his beautiful plane. Somehow, his business , Mexican Trading Co. survived and later became prosperous again. But there were a few lean years. I was blissfully unaware of this until about 1936. However, my clothes were mostly ragged hand me downs. I also got a lousy little bike handed down to me. Lee, to my chagrin, got a new bike. He was a sullen, rebellious child and got many privileges like bribes.

Work for privileged kids was not available in Mexico. Newspapers were delivered by men on bicycles, trying to eke out a meagre living. Fortunately, beans, rice and tortillas were cheap and formed the backbone of the poor folks diet. Mexican agriculture was all but destroyed by president Lazaro Cardenas (1934/40) and his Ejido program. The haciendas were broken up and given to the peasants in the form of communities. The peasants had neither the knowledge or means to grow large crops. The great sugar industry virtually disappeared. Trainloads of corn and wheat from the US saved the country from starvation.

No wonder I was not aware of the situation. My family ate well even in these times.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

2011-06-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

I paid a visit to my urologist on June 9th. To my h0rror he prescribed what he laughingly called called a procedure, requiring another operation and a one night stay ( more like a nightmare) in my favorite hospital to be done the very next day.
Now I am recovering but feel weak and tottery. My progress is supervised by me. What a lousy idea. Every little symptom is alarming. I want to run screaming to my doctor almost every day. I am suspecting that Dr. Lim's procedure may have failed, I am in a terrible humor.
Good news : It has started to rain for the first time in about three months. Too late, alas, for our garden and lawn. Too late to save large areas of Texas from devastating forest fires. My fig tree is dropping all the little baby figs.
Brilliant red cardinals flit about in the gardens of our neighbors. All we have here is a few forlorn bishops.
It still seems that our elected officials are incapable of doing what must obviously be done for the welfare of the country. Mrs.Obama is not helping very much. She loves to travel along with groups of superfluous companions at enormous ex pence. Mr Obama is a very busy president. Between golfing, fund raising and reading peculiar speeches from his teleprompter there is little time left to attend to the real needs of the country.
Let us select governor Perry for our next president.

THE STORM THAT SWEPT MEXICO

2011-06-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

NPB occasionally does good things and the program mentioned in the title was , for the most part, remarkable and factual.

This is the history of Mexico post Porfirio Diaz ( Long time dictator from 1890 to 1910 ). The great agrarian revolution that rocked the country through 1920 and beyond is shown with great photos and crude motion pictures of the events. The story is clearly explained in English and Spanish and for the first 2/3 , is factual and accurate. What a story !

After Pancho Villa , Zapata and other agrarian leaders were killed or marginalized, Plutarco Elias Calles more or less stabilized the government under what became the PRI ( Partido Revolucionario Institucional ) which stayed in absolute power for the next 50 years. He seized the land and churches of the Catholic Church. His intention was to destroy the church by such methods as murder and exile of all priests and nuns. He provoked the Cristeros revolt in Guadalajara which was quickly and brutally put down. This was not mentioned in the title program.

At the end of Calles term in office he appointed Lazaro Cardenas president and Cardenas soon turned against his sponsor and took complete control. He is remembered for the expropriation of the American and British oil fields. He made the labor unions powerful allies and with them, became extremely corrupt. One need not hesitate to say he was a communist.

Simply not mentioned in this program was the destruction of the church and the social machinations of Cardenas. Alas, it became a puff piece for the corrupt PRI.

If you can find this program, by all means watch it.

let us stretch your credulity

2011-05-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

Your scribe always writes in longhand ( illegible cursive ) and checks it out hours later for corrections and improvements. Two blogs in the last two weeks did not live up to my standards of excellence. Hence the prolonged silence.

However, I have once again found a subject worthy of a blog. Looking ahead on my kitchen calendar I discovered yet another important date of which I was completely unaware. Please mark on your calendar the 28Th of June. Some one (I cannot imagine who does these things ) has designated that day as TAKE YOUR DOG TO WORK DAY. It's true. I swear it is.

This special day creates several problems for me and perhaps for some others. Where would I take my dog since I retired some years ago ? Also, I don't own a dog. Perhaps I could borrow one but where would I take him/her*? It is indeed a conundrum.

*Isn't that him/her or he/she repulsive? I put it in just to tease my readers.

I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP

2011-05-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

I was bemused , shocked and disgusted to note that the week of May 15/21 is NATIONAL DOG BITE PREVENTION WEEK. I, of course, will do all I can to avoid being bitten during this time and I strongly recommend that you do the same.

However, I wonder what congressperson introduced this bill and why they did so. Much better would have been NATIONAL MOSQUITO BITE PREVENTION WEEK. Perhaps some officious legislator will come up with that next. Whoever it might be will certainly get my vote.

This sort of rubbish is more common than one might think. Our state legislators are not immune to stupidity. Every state seems to have a state flower and a state bird. I cannot imagine why. However, this at least does serve an important purpose. Where would our trivia games be without such nonsense.

IS OSAMA REALLY DEAD/

2011-05-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

Why is it that so many questions arise when the Fed does anything ? Here are a few things I would like to know.

1) Did Pakistan know where Bin Laden was for the last 6 or 7 years?

2) Did Pakistan know we were coming to get him ?

3) Was the mission to kill or capture Bin Laden ? Did he resist or endanger the seals ?

4)What was the object of disposing of the body so quickly ? Why did they honor him with an honorable burial ? Was it really him that they dumped ?

5) What's with the photos ? Why not release them ?

6)What happened to the other men in the compound ? Should they not also have been captured for interrogation ? Should we not have interrogated the women also ?

These and so many other questions are about, casting doubt on the entire operation. Is Osama really dead or maybe being held in some secret place for further interrogation ?

RANDOM THOUGHTS

2011-04-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

#1) I have always thought that our black citizens overreact to the N word and the B ( boy) word. Only 150 years ago that was what they were called. It is history, not intended as an insult. Use these words now and it may cost you your life.
Now I see the inbred, snooty British royalty looking down their noses at what they like to call commoners ( The C word ). Were I a Brit and referred to as a (C word ), I might feel the urge to inflict an injury on them.

#2) Isn't it peculiar that the last 12 US presidents all graduated from Harvard or Yale ? It has not always been necessary to have a college degree, Andrew Jackson never went to school. Abraham Lincoln had two years of formal education. Large numbers of them scarcely got out of High school.

# 3) The Feds on average are spending $166 million every hour of the day, 7 days a week. They love to spend our money and are very generous. Buy a hybrid auto and get a $6,000 dollar gift. Put in an efficient air conditioner and get a $2,000 gift. If you have a smallish income, be sure to file a tax return whether you owe taxes or not. The EIC ( earned income credit, often miscalled earned income tax credit ) will present you with a gift of up to $5,666 . This program has been plagued by cheats and fraud, aided and abetted by unscrupulous tax preparers. These and many other giveaways should be eliminated.

THE NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR

2011-04-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

Apparently we must be utterly fascinated by the British royalty. Our media has concentrated for weeks now on the impending nuptials of William and Katherine. They have finally decided to get married after 8 years of being shacked up. One might say, it's about time.

Each day Willie is looking more and more like his half witted father who may inherit the throne, along with his blowsy consort. This looks like one more embarrassment for Great Briton and the royals.

My principal interest in the story is the hysterical reporting of the event. Do we really care what gown Katherine wears ? Are we going to watch our TVs for many boring hours before, during and after the ceremony ? The answered to the above , a resounding yes.

On a personal note, I hate royalty. Can you imagine bowing and curtsying to these people as though they are somehow our superiors ?

Maybe I'm just pissed because my invitation got lost in the mail. I have heard that the Obama invitation also got lost in the mail.

EMPTY NEST

2011-04-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

One by one the kids left home to make their way in the world. This wasn't always easy for them but all have survived and seem to be doing fine. But how about Jan and me?

Although we worried about the kids and even missed them, we never felt abandoned or alone until now. Here it is, Easter eve and no kids. We try to make the occasion happy. We went out to lunch and to a movie (Water for Elephants which followed the book closely and we loved both the book and the movie). We don't do this very often so it was a treat. Tomorrows plans, spare ribs at home (alone). Darn it ! We wish we had some kids here but the nest is empty.

KNOW WON REEDS MY BLOG

2011-04-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

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ANOTHER DISASTER

2011-04-11T06:35:00.000-07:00

The pretty, chirpy weather girl announced yet another glorious day, warm and sunny. Know weigh ! She got it wrong. A glorious day here would call for clouds and lots of rain. It's been a month now here in Houston since we have had any rain. This area is in a severe drought situation. Much of Texas and some surrounding states are in an extreme drought. Much of the agriculture is in ruins. Cattle are being shipped off to slaughter to avoid dieing of thirst or hunger. As of today, this is considered the worst drought in 44 years and if it keeps up much longer it will be the worst ever. The Texas deer population, calculated at over 20 million, will mostly perish. The huge feral pig population may thrive, eating all the dead carcases. Huge forest fires are breaking out.Are we going to have a new dust bowl? So far, no water restrictions have been declared for Houston but it shouldn't be long. I already feel guilty when I water the lawn

STUPID COMMPUTER

2011-04-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

The previous post was supposed to consist of 6 paragraphs. I cannot imagine why the machine does not do as I tell it. It seems to have a mind of it's own.

AFTER THE APOCALYPSE

2011-04-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

As you may recall, in 1986 in northern Eukrain the chernobyl nuclear power plant blew up with devastating effect lighting the sky a brilliant purple and laying waste to 1669 square miles, including the town of Pripyat. This area is now know as the exclusive zone, Just 25 years later strange things have happened. Flora and fauna have flourished. In only 25 years the forest has reclaimed the area. Enormous feral pigs, dogs, wolves, lynx, foxes, badgers, red and roe deer, elk, frogs and fish abound. It is like the garden of Edan, a paradise of wild life. But------ The birds are showing the first signs of the unstable DNA taking place, showing freakishly high levels of albinism. Some trees have taken on unusual forms. We may soon see evolution taking place at an unprecedented rate. This is probably what the world looked like before mankind altered the landscape and how it might look again when humans are gone. This is an abridged version ( mine ) of a much longer article by Henery Shuckman that first appeared in Outside Magazine and reprinted in The Week magazine of April 1, 2011.

FAMILY TREES

2011-03-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

I was proud of my effort in making a fairly extensive family tree with over 300 family
members included and covering six generations.

At this time, Jean ( McAlister ) Brooks was also making a tree but hers, I am sorry to confess, makes my puny effort look bad. There are pictures galore and histories on almost everyone.
Most of my stuff is included in Jeans tree with well over 1000 individuals.

Access :Mar vista ancestry.com Go to bottom of first page displayed and click on ancestry.com. click on ancestry. com and look for Mar Vista

DID THE GOVERNMENT DO SOMETHING RIGHT /

2011-03-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

One of our toilets developed a habit of leaking all of the time. I tried to fix it many times. No luck. A plumber came and charged a hundred bucks. It still leaked. Finally, in despair, I hied myself to Lowes and inspected the vast array of multicolored, shiny new comodes, priced from ninety nine bucks to over 1000. I selected a modest 250 dollar model on sale and got an additional 10% off due to my long ago military service. 8% sales tax and seventy five dollars installation and now we have a gleaming white one piece throne. Unbeknownse to me this is a modern toilet which flushes using almost no water. The government's intention in forcing us to put in these water saving devices was to save water and indeed they do.

Much criticesm about toilets that don't flush has proven to be untrue. Mine never fails. It was made in Mexico by American Standard

ENERGY

2011-03-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Our wonderful government seems indifferent or ignorant of the crisis facing the US. This need not have developed into a nearly insoluble situation. Basically, there are only a few players in the energy field: Coal, petroleum, natural gas, water power (Dams),nuclear, and to a lesser extent, wind and solar.

The environment lobby has a stranglehold on most of these .Coal, our principal source of energy is dirty. They don't like petroleum either.

Drilling is forbidden in most places Natural gas is being obtained by a process called fracting and now they are trying to tell us that it is ruining our ground water. Dams have already been placed everywhere so no ability to expand this. Nuclear looks to be our main hope and, to give credit to Obama, he is favoring this and already several plants are being constructed. The Japanese disaster has given the environmentalists more ammunition to try to put a stop to this.

I wonder where we go from here. It takes time to develop the petroleum and nuclear, assuming that we start working on this at once.

SINGULARITY

2011-03-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

We received a Time magazine article from an anonymous source ( she surely wishes to remain unknown. We will just call her Julia. How embarrassing to have it known that one still reads The Lying Rag. That's my pet name for Time which I have not read in the last forty years )

Considering the source ( the magazine, not Julia ) it is a remarkable article which could well have appeared in a learned scientific journal. It's thesis is the rapidly advancing world of technology. From a relatively slow start many years ago it seems to be advancing exponentially, so much so that within a short time we can hardly imagine where this may take us.

It seems likely that computers will be able to pick our brains and perhaps even take them over and give them input. Diseases will become a thing of the past and old age will become a distant memory. Space travel will become commonplace. No problems will remain unsolved.

Try to imagine some point where there can be no more progress. Everything will be done. I don't know if the singularity people have gone that far.

FREEMASONRY-SHRINERS

2011-02-16T14:20:00.000-08:00

I know very little about the Masons and the Shriners but I love discussions and controversy and so express my thoughts. My Catholic upbringing causes me to be suspicious. The church does not allow it's members to belong to this secret organization and we must wonder why.
Most Masons are fine people. I have know a number of them. I believe that most of them do not have a clue as to why they are looked on with askance. They do charitable work, build nice children's hospitals and are just a jolly bunch, not unlike the Elks. Sure they stand together and favor each other whenever possible. Nothing wrong with that.
The Shriners have 193 temples in the US. It sounds a little like a religion. They wear ceremonial red fezzes with black tassels and on this headgear are mysterious Islamic symbols. The full title of the organization is ANCIENT ARABIC ORDER OF THE MYSTIC SHRINE.
Is there a secret agenda ? I think so and present the following shocking evidence. Did you know that all US presidents were or are Masons ?( Possible exception, JFK )
This goes way beyond the possibility of coincidence ! How extraordinary! How could this be ? They seem to have their hands on the levers of power. I do not know why .Do you find this spooky ? I do.
As an afterthought, Mexican presidents are also largely Masons. I have no data on other world leaders. I suspect that many of them belong.
Just another afterthought. This is a sexist group. No women allowed

NOT SO GOOD ( conclusion )

2011-02-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

I hearken back some 40 or more years ago to life in Mexico City. From time to time we would purchase roast chickens from any one of the rotisseries which dotted the city. They were small birds, almost skinny. One bird would make a moderate meal for two. How great they tasted, from the delicious crispy skin to the tiny wings, legs, thighs, and breasts.
Fast forward to the present: We purchase a rotisserie chicken from the local grocery store. This is one big bird, almost the size of a small turkey. Four people would be hard pressed to consume it. The slimy skin we discard at once. The enormous parts of the fowl are encrusted with globules of fat. I say, thank you very much but no thank you.
In conclusion, those of you who may have had the pleasure of eating carnitas in Mexico may look in vain for the equivalent in the US. If we can put a man on the moon, why can we not make good carnitas ?

NOT SO GOOD

2011-02-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

Another negative blog ! This is in reference to American meat products, especially sus scrofula, more popularly know as pork. As a youngster in Mexico I ate no pork since my parents felt that it was unsafe. It was not until I was 16 or so that I first experienced pork. How delicious ! I could not get enough of it. Even when Jan and I moved back to the US 35 years ago all the pig products were still great. About 20 or 25 years ago something happened. Porcine products were no longer so good. I can only think of a few reasons:1) Farmers were breeding swine with less fat; 2)Pigs varied diet was suspended and they were fed almost exclusively corn; 3) Perhaps my aging taste buds are not as good as they once were. I hope I never see another pork chop.They are generally tough and tasteless.

More about blog

2011-02-01T07:52:00.000-08:00

As previously mentioned, I recieved my beatifully bound and printed blog from blog2print. Yesterday I spent a pleasanr hour or two reading all my posting since 2007. A few comments on that: There were about 140 real blogs ( 20 false starts ). Many of the posting were brilliant or near brilliant but some were really lousy. I also noticed that recently I have been blogging only once in a while and I intend to do more of this in the future.
I have a blog all hand written and ready to go but discovered that much of it has already been covered over the years, This unposted blog was to be about our stupid government and I listed 14 stupidities. When trying to figure out how to write such a blog without going into too much detail, I found that I was not able to read my writing on 4 of them. It was to become 1o stupidities. I found that most of the ten were enacted with the best of intentions and every one of them backfired. Herewith are the ten listed without comment:
Earned income credit
Minimum wage
Food stamps
Unemployment payments
Cost of living adjustments
Peace corp and Americorp
Bailouts
Payments for puchases of autos and other items
Earmarks and other porkers
Foreign aid

ABOUT BLOGS

2011-01-26T06:46:00.000-08:00

This is a blog about blogs. Daughter in law Holly mentioned that she had gotten her blogs printed up by Blogs2print and I sent off to have mine printed. In a couple of weeks the book arrived. It was very well made, complete with an illustrated soft cover and included 160 blogs written since March of 2007 complete with comments. The cost was an astoundingly low $26.oo. I don't suppose anyone would care for a copy but should this be the case, I would gladly order such a book for them.

MURDER IN ARIZONA

2011-01-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

As everyone in the world must know by now , there was a terrible, tragic mass murder
of a fine young congresswoman, a federal judge and a few others by a crazy madman.

This happened about ten days ago and the left wing nuts jumped on the occasion to
blame the usual subjects (Palin, Limbough, Hannity, and Beck). Upon a quick and easy
investigation of the matter, this turned out to be a preposterous idea and should have been
discarded. But somehow the story persists. Sad as it is, in the overall scheme of things,
this is not that big a story. By now it begins to sound ridiculous with POTUS appearing on the scene and giving yet another speech and congress taking a week off. Each funeral of the victims
is covered at great length.

No one ( but me) has suggested that it was anti semitism that motivated the crazy
idiot. I really don't want to hear any more on this greatly over reported subject.

A FEW GRIPES

2010-12-29T13:03:00.000-08:00

Gripe #1: I have noticed with some dismay that young people have taken to using language not generally heard in old time polite society. This is offensive to older people and demeaning to the youngsters.
Gripe # 2: The English language is deteriorating at an alarming rate. No one seems to know the difference between the nominative and objective cases. Specifically, the misuse of I and me.
Gripe #3: Related to gripe # 2, it refers to the new and popular expression, my bad.
This came right out of the Ghetto . I have nothing against the ghetto except for their misuse of
our beautiful language. I think my bad means I made a mistake, or I lied, or I didn't mean to do it or some such thing. Lets just say what we mean without using peculiar ungrammatical expressions. Please, never say my bad in my presence, especially if I have a knife or a club or perhaps a gun handy. Otherwise, you will at least receive a dirty look from me.
Gripe #4: Over the years we have sent Christmas messages ( the now famous DXCM) in enormous numbers. Each year we have received ever fewer cards and messages from our vast readership. No more mister nice guy. We don't hear from you and you are off our mailing list.
Although I hate to mention it, e-mail Christmas cards don't count.

GOVERNMENT STILL OUT OF CONTROL

2010-12-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

The new bipartisan compromise bill to be passed by congress and signed by
Obama looks to be more of the same spending stimulus. Do they not realize
that they are spending too much and digging us deeper in debt ?

It now seems permanently ingrained as the rights of Americans that they should be
payed a salary whether or not they are employed. The so called compromise bill to be
passed ( of course right away ) extends the unemployment payment for 13 months !
The cost is a staggering 50 billion bucks.

A certain number of the unemployed would rather get their $350.00 per week than
work. There are also , unfortunately, some individuals with zero skills or abilities or,
for some other reason, are unemployable. This is a dilemma. One cannot just let these
people starve.

Suggestion: ( It won't happen ) After 13 weeks the unemployment pay should be
reduced to perhaps $200.00 per week, not enough to keep them from working but
enough to keep them from actually starving.

A tiny afterthought: The mindset of the administration shows itself by the needless
expansion of the school lunch program at a cost of a paltry 4 billion dollars. Just petty
change by today's standards.

OFF YEAR ELECTION 2010

2010-10-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

I can't get interested in local and state politics. National politics is what I really like. While looking at the states, one by one, I have discovered some interesting and surprising things.

New England, for example, consists of six tiny states with declining populations and influence. At one time they were the backbone of the union intellectually, politically and economically. At the time of the Revolution the British were amazed at the wealth of the area. Alas, this is no longer the case. In fact, the number of congressional districts has actually declined. Presently, they have 22 representatives.Over the years they have become increasingly radicalized to the point where not a single representative is Republican. 21 of the rest are Democrats and one is a socialist.

I wonder if this is about to change. Will the Republicans be able to pick up at least a few seats?

To my amazement, I discovered that I was hard pressed to name the six New England states. I wonder if others will find the same problem.

OUR SPENDTHRIFT GOVERNMENT

2010-10-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

The bloated State Departemnt is not often included in the list of government wasteful spending. Would it surprise you to know that there are over 190 embassies spread around the world ? These are large, fancy, fortress like buildings. (The new Iraqi embassy is costing$1,000,000,ooo.00. That's one billion)

Embassy staffs are large. I have been told , for example, that the Mexico City staff is over 400. London, Paris, Berlin and other major capitals are similarly staffed.

Each embassy has an ambassador. This almost always turns out to be a big contributor to the party of the president in power,or sometimes just friends of POTUS. Ambassadorships are well paid and very prestigious positions with many percs. They must live in the finest houses with enormous staffs as befits their importance. Their principal function is to throw lavish parties for the local bigwigs. His consular staff does what little work needs to be done.

The consulates are spread about in large numbers, maybe 5 or 6 in important counties. Figures are hard to come by but a good guess would be about 600. Each is like a mini embassy. Their function is to look after the interests of American citizens.
My personal experience with the consuls varied from terrible to unbelievably excellent.

Ambassadors to countries are only part of the picture. We also have ambassadors to international organizations and ambassadors at large (?). The Department of State
in DC has a huge staff needed just to keep track of all th ambassadors and consuls

Here is a partial list of US embassies to countries I have never heard of----Tuvali, Tonga, South Ossetia. Seychelle, Sao Tome y Principe, Nauru, Maritius, Kimbali, Djibouti, Comoros, Cape Verde, Benin.

How many of these you can locate?

MORE FAMILY HISTORY

2010-09-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

In about 1950 I left Mexico to take a job,thanks to Uncle Tom Dean, in Gresham, Oregon with the Olympic Mfg. Co., a division of the Dean Co.. My peers in Mexico had all found decent jobs and were on good career paths. I had not been able to do so.

Gresham at his time was a tiny, bucolic town of 5 or 10 thousand and it's claim to fame was The berry capital of the world. There was a cannery, a milk company ( You can't beat our milk but you can whip our cream), one cinema, a few tiny restaurants and the afore mentioned Olympic Mfg. Co., a veneer slicing operation with about 50 employees.

I stayed with my brother Carl who owned a dairy farm in the nearby town of Boring. Carl introduced me to the Carter family.

Thomas ( Doc ) Carter (1885-1975 ) and wife Pauline had an enormous family of 11 children ( two deceased at that time) . Doc had served in the US Army in WWI and again in WWII and emerged as a LT. Colonel. Interestingly he had only a sixth grade education ( Not unusual at that time) but was able to qualify for a veterinary school in Canada. While there he met and married Pauline Horton from Michigan in 1914. After a number of moves he found himself in Gresham and had become the Multnoma County vet with a private practice as well.

Janet was child number 9. We were married in 1952. My job with Olympic was not working out well. Jan and I and three kids returned to Mexico where we spent 20 great if poverty stricken years.

Some time in the 1990s we visited Gresham and discovered, to our dismay, that it had become the second largest city in Oregon with almost nothing familiar to us.

BED BUGS

2010-09-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

For many years the US was free of bed bugs. Rather suddenly they have reappeared and are becoming all pervasive. One might well quit going to movies, restaurants and especially, hotels. Hotel rules: Don't put your suitcase on the floor, use the luggage rack; never put your clothing in the dresser; Turn back the bedding and inspect the mattress; keep suitcase closed. Best rule of all, stay home.

We understand that bedbugs do not survive microwaving or cloths dryers. Should your home become infected, there are several fairly ineffective chemicals one can use. Or, one can burn the pillows and mattresses and pray that you got them all.

Once again our officious bureaucrats have screwed things up. Remember DDT ? Rightly or not its use worldwide has been banned. Malaria and other mosquito born diseases, almost eliminated, once again flourished.

The really simple solution to the bedbug problem: Ban the outdoor use of DDT where it might harm mother nature. Allow its use indoors where it can cause no environmental damage. This is known to be 100% effective .

SOME MORE GIVEAWAY IDEAS

2010-08-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

The Senior Citizens League has solicited funds for their lobbying efforts on behalf of a group of old farts and crones born between 1917 and 1926. These are the so called notch babies who, thanks to an oversight by a long ago congress, got screwed on their social security payments.
The SCL has suggested a handout of five thousand dollars compensation. One might wonder if this includes dead notch babies heirs. We must, at all costs, be fair. I calculate that this could cost perhaps sixty billion dollars.

Our profligate,lickspittle congressmen (Oops!, congress persons ) call themselves public servants ( That's a laugh ) but all they desire is to be re-elected and so they like the idea of giving away our money to buy votes. Here is a hint of the groups with hands extended for a piece of the pie. N, U, C, B, OF,P and R. (Politically incorrect initials . Can you guess who they are?

The key word in all these schemes is fairness. That concept can put us ever deeper in debt.

2010-08-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

GOVERNMENT IN ACTION

We are perplexed by the steps that the FDA or maybe the Agriculture
dept. takes when it imagines that they have found something amiss with our food supply. I have assembled a small list of the stupidities they have perpetrated against our suppliers.

Some years ago it was apples. Alar was supposedly a deadly poison that the industry had been using for years, No fatalities. Nobody got sick. Apple growers were ruined.

One might recall the Chilean grape scandal. Someone found a grape in a shipment supposedly with poison in it. All Chilean grapes were destroyed. Chile took a big hit on this one.

Lettuce and melons were the next victims. These growers were nearly ruined. Californian
growers were ruined for a time.

Do you remember the tomato recall ? Florida and California growers were ruined. It turns out that it was a mistake and decided it was jalapenos that were to blame, another ruined crop.

Now the bureaucrats have outdone themselves. Eggs, the perfect food, are deemed to be infected. Something like a billion eggs have been recalled. Why, you might ask. 125 people have gotten food poisoning. That works out to be one in 4 million. Your chances of winning the lottery are about as good. It occurred to me that cooked eggs are free of salmonella and perfectly safe to eat. Wouldn't a simple warning be all that is necessary ? But no ! Our nosey intrusive government thinks nothing of destroying whole industries.

For years I have been making smoothies with milk, bananas, egg(raw) and Ovaltine. I intend to continue doing so. It is a delicious drink . I recommend it for breakfast.

IRRITATED ( AGAIN )

2010-08-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

I have touched on the horror of the useless expression, you know, in some of my previous writings. Happily, my campaign against you know has been largely successful and only professional athletes and other mentally challenged individuals still use it. They elicit sympathy rather than irritation. Their innocent ignorance cannot be condoned but looked upon with tolerance. But----

But even more insidious phrases have infected our erstwhile beautiful English language.This infection is far more serious than the now fading you know. There are three of them, the worst being if you will followed by if I may and (right out of the ghetto) you know what I mean. These repulsive and totally unnecessary phrases come out of the mouths and pens of professional speakers, politicians and writers. The politicians automatically lose my vote. The other writers and speakers loose all credibility.

I, if you will, am angered and,if I may, saddened by the degradation of English, if you know what I mean.

I reserve the right to expound on he/she at a later date

GRANDPA RICHMOND DEAN (1861-1941)

2010-07-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

Richmond Dean ( Grandpa to me)was born during the civil war of not prosperous parents. He married Katherine Finn and produced 5 kids , Jack, Dorcas, Tad ,Tom and Amy.Upon her death he married Luise Daily and had Charles and Philip. All are deceased but many cousins and 2nd cousins are still alive.
Thanks to Noni Dean and Steve Darst for some of the anecdotal items presented here.
He joined the Pullman Co. and quickly advanced to General Manager, CEO, President, and Chairman of the board. The Pullman Co, in those days, was one of the pre-eminent industrial companies in the US. During World War I Woodrow Wilson temporarily nationalized the railroads and Grandpa faced him and argued acrimoniously. They hated each other and after the war Wilsoln very reluctantly returned Pullman to it's rightful owners calling Grandpa a hot head.
He was indeed a hot head. He was also a brilliant, hard drinking person .
My favorite anecdote : When he retired he went to Florida where he hob nobbed with with
Henry Ford, Harvey Firstone, Pew(Of Sunoco), and Thomas Edison. What a remarkable group of friends !
I only met Grandpa a few times when I was very young, maybe 6 or 8. We visited him in Highland Park, an upscale suburb of Chicago where he had his mansion. He left me with a lasting impression. I still remember him well.
There is much more to tell but I am still gathering information which I may include in a subsequent blog.

A REALY GOOD DAY

2010-07-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

Bastille Day eve was a banner day for YHS ( I use this acronym for YOUR HUMBLE SERVAnt to save space ) et ux. We were unbeatable.

I ( Oops, I mean YHS ) am the director of a 15+ duplicate bridge game every Tuesday and we (YHS et ux )won with an enormous almost unheard of 70% average.

From there we( YHS ETUX )went to the Burlap Barrel for the weekly trivia game which I have referred to previously. Another enormous victory netted us $40 of free drinks.

Upon returning home, a quick check of the stock market of my miagre securities showed a handsome profit.

Here are a few samples trivia questions which I submit to test your mwntal acuity.
1) In Moby Dick, what was Ahab's peg leg made of ?
2) In oil paints, what is the oil used by the painters?
3) What is unusual about the Mona Lisa'seyebrows?
4) How many states in the Civil War were on the confederate side and how many in the Union?
5)In the star ship Enterprise, what powered the Enterprise ?
6) How old was Joan of Arc when she died?

TV AND RADI0 FAVORITES

2010-06-28T06:55:00.000-07:00

I love radio and TV talk shows, especially those with a political content. Unfortunately, many of these shows can be irritating at times. For example:

RUSH LIMBAGH: He thinks he is pretty cute ( he is not ) and is more than a bit opinionated. He strays away from the conservative line from time to time. ( The straight conservative line is what I say it is )

BILL O'REILY: At times he is more than irritating. He invites learned and interesting guests to his program and interrupts them constantly. Unlike the true conservative ( me ) he despises the energy companies and does not seem to know about such fundamentals as supply and demand.

SEAN HANNITY: He is a nice and decent guy.His delivery is weakened by his excessive religiosity's. I have nothing against religions ( a couple of obvious exceptions ) but he may turn off some potential listeners and weaken his effectiveness. Hey Sean, what's with the stupid football you keep tossing about ?

GLEN BECK; Glenn Beck does his homework and scares the pants off of his listeners. His clownish presentation belies the horrors of his terrifying analysis of the current situation.

GREG GUTFELD: Who is he ? you might ask.You may never have heard of him since his program comes on at 2 A.M. ( TIVO is the worlds greatest invention ). He is really funny if at times a bit vulgar. Three or four guest are mercilessly harassed.
These guests can be priests, congressmen, authors, writers, comedians, prominent women ( always beautiful ) and more. He also writes articles for learned journals and has several books to his credit. I just unlimbered $ 25 for his latest tome,THE BIBLE OF UNSPEAKABLE TRUTHS. I am up to page 12 ( slow reader ). He may not be for the faint of heart.

WORLD CUP

2010-06-17T06:52:00.000-07:00

The world cup is an international celebration of the worlds most popular game.
About 32 counties have sent teams this year to South Africa and billions of aficionados watch the spectacle. Soccer has never been popular in the US but even here there are quite a few interested people.

Unfortunately, the South Africans have discovered a plastic horn that emits a loud noise not unlike that of a bee, a very large bumble bee type. So loud is this noise ( louder than a jack hammer I am told ) that the players are bothered, the anouncers can hardly be heard and the spectators themselves must be nearly deafened.
Some of these spectators may not like to be subjected to this and their option would be to not attend the games. We notice a good number of empty seats at the venues.

The worst part of the horns is that seem very popular with the cretinous fans and many millions of these horns are being purchased all over the world. It seems likely that all soccer games world wide will be subjected to this racket. The popularity of futbol ( That's what is called all over the world except here ) is going to be seriously impackted. Maybe the world futball authorities will ban it.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

2010-06-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

In 1920, congress wasn't much smarter than the current bunch. They passed what is know as the Jones Act, The Merchant Marine act of 1920,or The Cargo Preference Act. Under the strictures of this act most American trade had to be carried by American ships manned by American ( Union ) seamen. Shortly thereafter the US merchant marine largely disappeared and heretofore American ships were registered in Panama and other foreign countries.
The Jones Act has severely impacted the response to the gulf oil disaster. Many available ships such as skimmers are in the area but cannot be used. President Bush waived the act during the Katrina disaster. President Obama could have done the same.However,this would have offended his labor union support and he has failed to issue the waiver. His failure to do this has exacerbated the damage in the gulf.
This hardly seems like the time to play politics.

TO GOOD TO BE TRUE

2010-06-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

How they git her name I do not know but through the mail and by phone Jan was told that by showwing up for a 30 minute presentation she would recieve a round trip ticket for 2 to anyplace in the continental US on the airline of her choice. Jan and I both smelled a mouse but we went anyway. At our age, we should have known better.

After an hour and a half slide show presentation by a glib, sleazy looking fellow who extolled the great savings and discounts availble through Direct Buy on almost anything one might want to purchase.( 50-60-even70%) Then came the clincher.For a paayment of $4000, $5000 or 6000 one could become a member, even with a down payment of as little as $i00.

I smelled a rat, a very big rat( The capybara living along the Orinoco river is the largest know rodent),a particularly odorific rat. When we were informed that this was the only chance, right then, to inscribe, we repectfully declined and asked for our airline ticket. We were given a scrap of paper instructing us to send $29 and in 4 to 6 weeks we would recieve our ticket. I looked these people up on the internet and sure enough,no one ever got a ticket.If is too good to be true, it probably isn't.

46000

John Finn

2010-05-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

JOHN FINN

Aside from my admiration for the brave and heroic, why do I particularly remember John Finn (1909-2010) ? His exploits at Pearl Harbor are well documented and led to his receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was a not too distant relative of mine.
See if you can follow the genealogy. He was the son of my maternal grandmother’s brother.( Second cousin maybe)

I first heard of him through my great aunt, Teresa Finn, John’s aunt and sister
of my grandmother. Aunt Teresa was a spinster who lived in Saint Louis in a fine part of
town ( Now a bombed out slum). She had doted on John and became very emotional
when she spoke of him to me around (1942 or 43) so although I never met him I knew a little about him. I did not know he had a wife, Alice ( Not much information about her anywhere on the internet) and a son, Joseph (Cannot find anything about him either)

Brother Lee and I were sent off the Western Military Academy around 1942. Lee needed the disciplined life of the military, or so thought my Dad, and I was sent along as an afterthought. This Academy was in Alton, Ill, a delightful town then ( Not so hot now) and just across the river from Saint Louis. Sometimes , on weekends we would visit Aunt Teresa. She lived in a fine apartment building called The Winston Churchill ( we called it the WC.) We were always reluctant to be there as there was not much to do but we listened attentively to her stories.

My brother Dean and Anne visited John , probably 10 or 15 years ago. They found him living on a small ranch in southern California. They found him interesting and talkative.

MORE MEMORIES ( Continuation)

2010-05-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

My part in the story

About 1930 or 31 my mother ,Amy, bundled me and 4 brothers and sister and took us to stay with Grandpa Dean in Highland Park, an upscale suburb of Chicago. The situation in Mexico was so serious that we left, fully expecting all out revolution to break out.
We returned home when things had calmed down. Home at that time was a stately mansion in Colonia del Valle in what was a dying fancy part of Mexico City. At that time 6 or 8 beautiful homes with enormous gardens still existed in that area. Alas, they were soon all gone and replaced by tiny little dumps.
My mother, Amy, was an avid bridge player and two of her regulars were the Countess Polionac (Sp) and the Marquesa de Mazwel (Sp), two plump and pleasant remnants of failed European royalty ( French ? Polish ? from the Balkans ? I don't know) living parsimoniously on whatever they had been able to salvage from the royal treasuries.
At his time there were no functioning Catholic churches (1930/31). My brother Lee and I were spirited away to the home of either the Countess or the Maquesa ( I can't remember which ) and received our first communion in a
clandestine chapel in the basement which one of these ladies had bravely and daringly set up in her home. A brave and stalwart priest was there to administer the sacrament.
That was my tiny part in the history of the Mexican revolution. The countess and the Marquesa died Long ago. I doubt if there is anyone who even remembers that they existed. My sister Virginia lived through this time but was too young to actually remember . If she does, I would be glad to hear from her about this. No one else is left to confirm my story.

MORE MEMORIES

2010-05-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

I do not remember things that happened in 1924 since I was not born until 1925 but the story begins at that time when Plutarco Elias Calles seized the presidency of Mexico, an office he held until 1928. He then appointed Alvaro Obregon to be his successor but he was assassinated before he even took office.
Calles then appointed a succession of presidents during the next 3 or 4 years.
These were , in no particular order,Ortiz Rubio, Abelardo Rodrigez, and Emilio PorteS Gil. Finally ,in 1934, he selected Lazaro Cardenas, his friend and protege.
Cardenas served the constitutionally allowed 6 year term. He turned on Calles and had him and many of his cohorts exiled. Cardenas is principally remembered for having expropriated all foreign oil companies.
Calles, during his presidency and through 1935 is largely remembered for his ruthless persecution of the Catholic Church. All church properties were seized, Catholic schools ( The only schools in Mexico at the time) weRe closed, and priests and nuns were hunted and often actually killed. The Cristeros revolt, centered in Guadalajara was ruthlessly put down. When Calles took office, there were about 3000 priests. When the persecution was largely over there were scarcely 300. (About 1939 ). At that time masses were allowed to be held in the now government owned churches.( Suggested reading,THE POWER AND THE GLORY by Graham Greene)
TO BE CONTINUED

MEMORUES

2010-05-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

As I grow older, memories of my youth keep popping up unbidden but not unwelcome. Almost all of these reminisces are pleasant enough but they are accompanied by a tinge of sadness. Why is that ? They are almost all known to no one but me.

This was brought forcibly to mind when I told a simple tale to the surprise of daughter, granddaughter, and even wife.

STORY
Back in 1940 or 41, King Carol 2nd of Romania was deposed and exiled. He first arrived in Mexico for perhaps 6 month or so. He was asked to leave and went to Brazil. He was accompanied by his most beautiful mistress, Madam Magda Lupescu.

While in Mexico he rented a house just one block from my family home
(Historic residence known as Los Naranjos). Across the street from his Majesties house was the home of Tom and Ethel Miller (Famous historical Casa Alvarado, built by Cortes' second in command), best friends of my parents. We often spent Saturdays or Sundays at cookouts at Casa Alvarado where his Majesty and Madam were usually present. We Schmidts also entertained King Carol from time to time. On one occasion, Madam Lupescu kindly agreed to play a few hands of gin rummy with me. I estimate that I was 15 or 16 years old.

King Carol was asked to leave Mexico and went to Brazil where he married
Madam Lupescu on her deathbed. He was asked to leave Brazil and was allowed to go to Portugal where he spent the rest of his life.

I could find no reference on my computer that he was ever in Mexico. All the people involved in this story are dead.

2010-05-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

EYE DUE KNOT NO WHAT TWO DUE

I am mystified by my liberal family, friends and other admirers. They refuse to hear the conservative radio and TV commentators. "THEY LIE" screams one seemingly intelligent liberal. They actually stick close to the truth and have done their homework. They back up their points with videos of radical liberals ( Now being called progressives, socialists, or even communists ) actually saying the crazy things they have been accused of,

Fox News has a great group of wonderful reporters. I suggest you tune in once in a while

GOLD

2010-04-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

If you watch TV with any frequency as I do you might have noticed the recent
hysterical efforts to sell you gold by three or four heretofore unknown companies.
Several questions suggest themselves to your bemused blogger.
1) Where did they all of a sudden get all this endless supply of gold ?
2) Why, if is such a great investment do they want to sell ?

Suspicion : Maybe it isn't such a good investment after all. Perhaps they are trying to unload at the present high price before an expected crash in gold price. Time will tell.

Another possibility : As you know, the US has a large stash of gold in Fort Knox
Are they dumping this stash through these gold selling companies ? Hmm- I wonder.

True or false trivia question: All the gold ever mined would fit in an average apartment.

DISGUSTED

2010-04-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

I make no secret of my conservative proclivities. That might be why I dislike the Houston Chronicle, the only daily newspaper in town. Several items in recent days reinforce my opinion.

1) The Republican National Committee let slip by a ( GASP) $2000 expense for attendance at sleazy strip joint. The fact that the expense was subsequently disallowed and the submitter fired is downplayed. Now all Republicans have been branded as sexual degenerates. This has been a huge story now for a number of days.

2) A crazed group of 9 nuts wanted to kill cops for some strange reason. Fortunately, they were discovered and stopped before doing any harm.
News item: Right wing extremist white supremacy group-----. Right wing!
They were about as right wing as Adolph Hitler, head of the Nazi (National
SOCIALIST) party in Germany. Hey, you progressives, he was one of your bunch.

ARE THE FRENCH SMARTER THAN WE ARE

2010-03-25T06:36:00.000-07:00

About 80% of French electrical power is generated by about 100 nuclear reactors. They seem to have no nuclear waste problem such is plaguing the US nuclear power industry. They, so I understand, rework the spent fuel in situ. I wonder why we don't do this.

In 2002 congress passed the deep geologic repository act and proceeded to spend 10 billion bucks to develop the Yucca Mountain site as a place to dump our spent nuclear waste. This site was completed and then abandoned. It is for sale if you want to buy a big hole in the ground.

Thanks to senator Harry Ried ( Dem., Nevada ) the site will no longer be considered and the 10 billion ( Chump change by Washington standards) is wasted. We continue, therefor, to have the same old serious problem of nuclear waste disposal.

Thanks a bunch, Harry

SOME OSCAR OBSERVATIONS

2010-03-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

There was nothing else to watch on TV and I am ashamed to say that
I watched the whole program. What a bore !

There were a few items that I think are worth mentioning
First-
Shoulders are back in style. Almost all the winners ( females that is)
presenters, and attendees showed at least one and often two lovely,
broad, milky white shoulders. ( How do you suppose they keep their
gowns from falling off?)
Second=
Breasts seem to have gone out of style. Most of the women somehow managed
to make these lovely orbs almost completely disappear. How do they do this and why do they do this? Is this the new look for 2010 ?

TRIVIA AGAIN

2010-02-19T08:14:00.001-08:00

Our team was successful again last Tuesday. Here are some sample questions.

1) How many centimeters in a kilometer?
2)Name the three cartoon characters used to promote Rice Krispies.
3)Name three African countries that start with the letter T.
4)What is an oligarchy?
5)How many strikes to make a perfect 300 score in bowling?
6)Who died first, Romeo or Juliet ?
7)What is xenophobia

LAS VEGAS REVISITED

2010-02-18T13:35:00.000-08:00

I have always been frugal. How pleased I am , for example,when I can use a dollar coupon when buying groceries. In fact, I am a parsimonious penny pinching person, a niggardly skinflint, even a miserly cheapskate.(Does one
think one is being too hard on oneself)

How is it then when confronted with a slot machine one can pour great
amounts of ones life savings into a soulless device designed to pauperize one.
It gets worse. At the black jack tables ( Minimum bet usually $15.00 or more )
one goes loco and finds oneself betting $25.00 and even $50.00 on a turn of a card. It's like monopoly money. Hey, its not real money, it's only chips. All this said, it really is lots of fun.

LAS VEGAS

2010-02-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

Jan and I spent a few days in Las Vegas, courtesy a most kind and generous invitation from Greg and Nancy. In many ways, it was a wonderful vacation trip and we didn't even lose too much cash. We were
impressed by the splendor of the palaces, each one more beautiful in its way than the last. We stayed at the Paris where the NGA was holding its annual convention and so the hotel was filled to capacity. We watched the super bowl on a huge screen, attended a speech by GW Bush (very good-
that man is no dummy ) and ate , drank, and gambled, saw a couple of
super shows.

When we left, we felt a little twinge of sadness. Why, you might ask ?
As we visited some of the more magnificent casinos and hotels, we were
aware that they were largely empty. No one is going to Vegas anymore.
What is to become of all these amazing structures if they must go bankrupt? Why are they so poorly attended ? I can think of two reasons:
There are too many hotels and second, they charge too much. Years ago one could go to Vegas and have inexpensive hotel rooms and cheap but excellent meals. Not any more. They are pricing themselves out of the market.

WHY DOES MY BLOG COME OUT SPACED SO PECULIARLY?

2010-01-29T08:03:00.000-08:00

No, I am not insane. I print my meagre offerings in the normal
manner but the machine insists on making me look like an idiot,

What should I do to correct it ?

THE SUPREMES DID IT AGAIN

2010-01-22T07:28:00.000-08:00

In a typical 5/4 decision the supreme court has decided that corporations,

labor unions, and foundations can now contribute without limit to political

contests. How wonderful is that? Now the political races will be decided by

huge pressure groups who are looking after nothing except their bottom line.

We little people with our tiny little contributions will no longer be of any

consequence. To my surprise, many conservatives seem to think this is just fine

and some of the liberals are opposed. This is a first for your humble scribe. I am

siding with the libs. How embarrasing.

I harken back to a previous blog in which I suggested the simple solution

to all the problems with political contributions. IF YOU CAN NOT VOTE FOR THEM

YOU CAN NOT CONTRIBUTE TO THEM. No more cioporation or labor union

dough. No more out of state interlopers trying to influence state matters.

It would be easy to enforce. WE could even limit individuals to $5,000 bucks

or so.

I sometimes wonder why our government is so screwed up and stupod.

POOR HRRY REID

2010-01-11T07:08:00.000-08:00

All right thinking people will agree that Harry Reid is a despicable person and an embarrassment to the US senate, his party, and the human race. Having expressed this opinion, why should I feel sorry for this miscreant ?
Harry's new book, just out, has what we of the right keep calling a racist remark and are calling for his resignation. We do wish he would resign or at least not be reelected this November. But we are trying to oust him for a remark which is obviously correct but politically a no no. He dared to speak the truth and for this he is being condemned. Perhaps you will by now have heard his comment: Obama was elected because he is a light skinned African American and he doesn't speak negro dialect , or words to that effect. It sounds like the truth to me.
Lets nail this creep for all the other wrong things he has done rather than some trumped up charge like telling the truth.

TRIVIA ONCE AGAIN

2009-12-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

The underwhelming response to my previous blog on the trivia questions has inspired me to
do it again. ( Total responses to last one, ZERO ) Here is a selection of the questions:

1)What is a 1 followed by 100 zeros called ?
2)What was the name of Daddy Warbucks Indian servant?
3)A 1975 miss USA became a TV super heroine. Who was she ?
4)Who is famous for helping slaves escape via the underground railway ?
5)What is the Scottish term for " times gone by"? Spelling counts .
6) Who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin ?
7) Rip Van Winkle woke up where ofter a 20 year nap.?
8)What US president pardoned Tokyo Rose ?
9) Recently, a 4 million year old fossil of a young woman was discovered. What is her name?

CORRECTION TO PREVIOUS BLOG

2009-12-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

Damit ! The stupid spel check doesn't werk four titles. Eye may knot yous it
anymore. It should have red YOUR SCRIBE THE GOURMET.

YOUR SCRIBE THE GOUMET

2009-12-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

We gourmands are well known for our love of fine foods. We are adventurous and love
all foods ( Except for oysters, snails, egg plant, rocky mountain oysters, liver except for
pattie de foys grass, and a few other things too numerous to mention here. I will explain
as soon as I get out of this parenthesis )

A new taste treat which I discovered recently is Orowheat sandwich thins. This consists of
packages of 8 loaves of bread, each loaf less than 1/2 inch thick and each loaf with only two slices per loaf. Both slices are end pieces or crusts which, on a normal loaf I generally discard as
inedible. Much to my surprise and delight, these crusts make for the finest sandwiches, or, if
toasted to a crisp and served with a fried egg are a gourmands dream of the perfect breakfast
dish. Kudos to Mr. Orowheat.

On an entirely different subject, it is snowing like mad even as I write and has been now for several hours. You Yankees may not find this worthy of mention but it is rare here. Houston will soon be paralysed. We have about an inch accumulation so far.

TRIVIA AGAIN

2009-11-19T13:14:00.000-08:00

Our team won the trivia game at the Burlap Barrel last Tuesday. I have selected a few of the more interestung questions to give my readers a chance to check their
knowledge.
1) What is the minimum age needed to be elected to the U.S House of Representatives?
2)Which vice presidents are documented to have shot someone while in office ?
3)What is the capital of Ghana ?
4)Brass is an amalgum of what metals ?
5) What vitamin is required for blood to clot ?
6)There are 7 denominations of US bills. Which of these have pictures not of presidents?
We peoudly walked away with a $40.00 certificate for free drinks

g

RIDICULOUS TRFFIC FINES

2009-11-14T11:10:00.000-08:00

Our wonderful city of Houston fathers, aided and abetted by the financial minions
who are their masters , have decided to balance the city budget at the expense of their
citizenry. The hapless victims are the drivers of automobiles. Here are a few examples:
Ten miles per hour in a school zone- $245. This happened to Jan yesterday. As she was slowing down from 50 mph she was clocked by a flatfoot going 30. This guy was doing what he was told to do. Catch everyone he could . I suspect that he makes his quota every day.
Running a stop sign- $230. I do this all the time. Some officious bureaucrats have spread these signs everywhere, whether or not they are needed. A note of caution:
make sure there are no cops in the vicinity if you care to follow my example.
Seat belt violation- $150 . It may be sensible to fasten the seat belt at all times
but I object to being told that I must. I often do not
buckle up for short trips. One of these days they will nab me. When it happens, it will make me very angry.
Be especially careful not to have any firecrackers in your possession. $421. It's better to have open containers of alcohol in motor vehicle. Only $270

SPEL CHEQUE IS FOUR SISSIES

2009-11-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

It's bin sum thyme since eye have ritten without spel cheque. It is fore sissies. We educated peepul due knot knead it. Eye rite this weigh two sho won and awl that wee due knot. Wee awl no how two spel. Hour skools taut us this. Wee due knot know y won wood knot no how. Due yew sea what aye meen ?

SPEL CHEQUE IS FOUR SISSIES

2009-11-04T12:23:00.001-08:00

SPEL CHEQUE IS FOUR SISSIES

2009-11-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

Jan's trivia

2009-10-28T09:25:00.001-07:00

Our weekly trivia game at the Burlap Barrel is in trouble. Our wonderful friend who ran the game suddenly died at the age of 53. We are trying to keep it going and Jan
was the next caller. Following are a few of the trivia questions which she asked:
What do the initials tips stand for ?
What does anosmia mean?
What is a group of crows called?
What is the name of the only dog breed that cannot bark?
In baseball, what is a ball that hits the foul pole called?
Name 3 European countrries beginning with the letter A,
Poor Jan, she was criticized by some of the players who thought her questions were too hard. She vows to never call again.

MOTHER NATURE

2009-10-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

You can imagine my surprise when I observed a female ( Nameless to protect the Innocent ) in a state ( to put it as politely as possible ) of dishabille dancing about on
my back lawn. She purportedly was doing a rain dance. This was two weeks ago.
Since then it has rained continuously every day for the last two weeks. The stressed trees and flowers have picked up and even the lawn has greened up. The weeds are also thriving. This marks the end of the drought which has afflicted us all summer long.
Not only Houston, but the rest of the state is also being drenched with flash floods
and mud slides everywhere, much too late for the ruined agriculture but at least
replenishing the lakes and aquifers.
But enough about the weather. I would much rather mention the great honor bestowed upon our leader, Barak Hussien O'Bama. THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.
He now joins the ranks of such luminaries as Yasar Arafat, Jimmy Carter, and Al Gore.
How proud we must all feel.

SEOND CHILDHOOD?

2009-10-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

Now that I am completely cured of my recent prolonged and horrid malady my
brain, now relieved of the stress of infirmity, has taken a peculiar turn. I awoke this
morning with " Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport and the dish ran away with the spoon "
This little nursery rhyme has lain dormant in my mind for perhaps 78 years.
Later in the day another of these things popped up. "A froggy would awooing go"
but the rest eluded me. Has anyone ever heard this one?
"Said the monkey to the owl, what'll you have to drink ? Said the owl to the monkey, I'll have a bottle of ink.' There must be more to it than that.
Another diddle diddle one- "Diddle diddle dumpling mice and John( or my son John) went to bed with his stockings on"
Do all these early memories indicate a second childhood ? They were certainly buried deeply in my memory and I wonder why they came pouring out now.

MORE ANIMAL STUFF

2009-09-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

We have previously discussed feral hogs and bee problems but we have by no means exhausted this subject. It has come to my attention that the batratia are also in trouble. We are told that the frog and toad population has declined precipitously and those that survive are likely to be deformed in variously horrid ways. I personally have not observed this. Indeed, we have numbers of chirping frogs in our own garden as well as an occasional toad and they seem perfectly healthy. ( One exception: one toad that I ran over with the lawn mower )
Now we are told that we are being overrun by deer. Someone took the time to count them and came up with 20,283,415 deer and that is only in Texas. Those Texas deer that I have seen are smallish but am told that they are edible. We Americans have become lazy. No more hunter gatherer types , we get our meat from the grocery store. How pathetic we all have become. Meanwhile, the deer population continues to grow and they are becomin ever more destructive.

II AM BACK

2009-09-18T08:02:00.004-07:00

By now I have lost all of my erstwhile faithful readers and so I write mostly for my own amusement. As many of you know, I have been under the weather ( to put it mildly) for the last month or two and am still in a recovery mode. This is a painfully
slow process which leaves me bemused, bewildered, discouraged and a bit depressed
from time to time. But enough about me.

A horrid program last night on TV was on the subject of feral hogs. It turns out that they are spreading so rapidly that controlling the numbers is almost impossible. Not only are they very prolific, for some reason each generation is getting much larger and they are even meaner than before. These beasts are dangerous. I foresee the day when camping out will be impossible. Even hiking will be too dangerous. The pigs are destructive and apparently fearless. I wonder if they are good to eat. Probably too
tough to chew and perhaps have acquired a gamy flavor. This is almost as bad as the
dying out of our bee population.

NOT DOING SO GREAT

2009-08-05T06:36:00.000-07:00

When one starts to pile on the years things start to go wrong. Several rules must be followed to insure ones quality of life. Rule # 1, try never to fall. Broken hips are the worst thing that can happen, closely followed by broken arms and ribs. In my case,a broken rib. Very painful but a fairly quick healing of four or five weeks seems
to have taken care of that. However , the potent painkillers caused some other unwanted after effects which I suspect may have caused me to be awaiting surgery
on my plumbing system in the next couple of weeks. Not a pleasant prospect.

Jan was driving me about ( I find driving difficult for the moment ) and was hit by a careless driver, causing $2500 of damage. His insurance company ,Safeco, is a bunch
of crooks who claimed it was Jan's fault. Ridiculous ! Our insurance Co., Farmers has come through with flying colors. What a wonderful bunch they are. They were more than helpful and are dragging the other insurance company to arbitration to get back our deductible portion of the bill the balance of which they paid at once. We are supposed to hate all insurance companies. I love Farmers.

On a happier note, we now have a resident rabbit in our yard. He has hung around now for about a month. I wonder why he has selected us but we are happy to accommodate him ( Her). I wonder if we should feed him and if so, what.

ECONOMICS REVISITED

2009-07-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

I refer you back to my prescient and brilliant series of bolgs of some time back.
As you probably know, the US has been loosing competitive position vis a vis
the rest of the world, in particular, Japan and now ( alas ) China. American industries, one after another have fallen prey to the foreigners. Our industrial base has eroded
so badly that we now import all those items that we once produced. This process
has been going on now for perhaps fifty years.

What, you may ask, brought this on. Simple-Our minimum wage has once again gone up, making us even less competitive than before. Just as bad, business
profits will go down. More people will not get the jobs that might have been available.
Congressional madness continues unabated.

Update on rib situation- The rib seems to be healing on schedule. However, the painkillers have had terrible effects which I am taking care of one by one. Now I
am without energy or strength or appetite. The medical people have taken over my
life for the time being. I don't think I will share the details at this time.

MORE ON BROKEN RIB

2009-07-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

We know that we risk boring our family, friends and other admirers with
the broken rib saga, but that is all that is on my mind these days.
Treatment for broken ribs consists of nothing but pain pills. Day one: heavy dose of
advil. Day two: heavy dose of allive. Days 3, 4 and part of five: codeine. The codeine was most effective for pain relief but has several terrible side effects too horrible to mention. Today ,back to advile. I would rather suffer a bit more pain than continue with the codeine. My doctor assured me that each day I would feel better and sure enough, I do. I like to think that a heavy dose of advil will be sufficient for the next month or so.

Not being able to leave the house, I suffer from what is know as cabin fever.
It is not easy to fill the day with useful activities. Television gets boring and repetitious. My boggle game is not up to the old standards although I have played it even more than usual. All we seem to get on TV is ever more Michael Jackson
and Sara Palin. The Jackson stuff is turning negative ( about time ) and the Palin
stuff remains poisonous. I confess that I like Sara allot although I would never consider her for president. That might be a sexist thing on my part.

We are now well into month two with temperatures above 100 degrees. The garden
looks pathetic. The tomato and bean crops failed completely and I fear for the
papaya tree.

UPDATE ON BAD DAY

2009-07-09T02:43:00.000-07:00

As I suspected, I have a broken rib. I recommend to one and all to try not to have
this happen. The doctor put my on a remarkably strong pain killer regimen and it
seems that that is the treatment . Time will take care of the healing, or so they say.
This is my first overtly broken bone. I injured my neck bone when I was 17 and have had a permanently stiff neck ever since. I injured my jaw bone in my 20s and now
my jaw cracks when I eat. Maybe these were broken but not for sure.

Back to the Jackson saga---The media has still not let go of this story. My conservative sources are more fascinated by the press hysteria than the actual story itself. I am reminded of the Princess Di story. She was turned into a saintly icon
in spite of her very checkered past. Our African American community did something
similar when OJ was acquitted.

A VERY BAD DAY

2009-07-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

July the 7th, a day that will live in infamy. This is our duplicate bridge day
and Jan and I have concluded that our game is deteriorating. We were beaten soundly
by players who should have been easy prey.

Arriving home from this discouraging experience, I found that the stock market had taken another tumble.

Off we went to our weekly trivia game at the Burlap Barrel. We usually stop on the way for a McDonalds sandwich. I hate the drive in windows so got out and ordered
at the counter. Leaving the premises I stumbled and fell heavily on my right side.
I lay there stunned for a moment and somehow managed to get to my feet and stagger to the car. I had Jan drive me home and since then have spent the most painful time of my life. I usually tough it out but this was too much. I went to my doctor and all he did was put me on painkillers and said I would be better each day for the next 4 or 5(!) weeks.

On another subject, have you heard enough about that Jackson freak ? Are people crazy or what?

HATS

2009-07-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

Prior to JFK almost all men wore hats. They were called fedoras. Why they wore them I can not imagine. JFK killed the hat industry. He famously refused to wear one, to his eternal credit.

The military have always worn some sort of headgear. The US Army at one time had neat, rectangular shaped caps that opened up and fit snugly on ones head.
General Sha-----(I can't recall the idiots name )decreed that henceforth the army would wear berets. He must have admired the French military so now US troops look like French troops. Interestingly, the idiot berets were purchase from China at $5.00
each. Ten million were ordered.

Some officious bureaucrats decided, some years ago, that we must wear protective headgear when riding bicycles. The result----We see perfectly competent riders decked out in what is, perhaps, the most ridiculous, repulsive things on their heads. If I still rode a bike I would either quit riding or become a scofflaw and do without the helmet.
The nanny state is still in action.

UTTER FRUSTRATION

2009-06-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

My dear old computer quit functioning last week. I did a moderately intelligent
thing. I called a geek. Abdul arrived the other day as he said he would and , indeed, the computer now works. The problem is, at his recommendation I was switched from
ATT to Comcast which Abdul assured me, was much faster and greatly superior. He was
partly right, It is faster. The problem is, I am finding it difficult to find anything . I did finally
locate my huge address list but it isn't compatible with comcast. Worse yet, my e-mail
is now different. Here it is . tomsc2@comcast.net. I would greatly appreciate anyone who
happens to read this to send me a message.
I suspect that it might be possible to transfer all the addresses to the new system. I await
the arrival of a friendly and free geek to show me how. Meanwhile, I guess I must e-mail everyone with the new data.
Almost as bad, I have not been able to access my Merrill Lynch stuff at all. I fear it mat have disappeared. It will take me some time to reconstruct it but I can't find any way to do so. HELP ,
HELP !
The good news, my boggle game is still there.

ANOTHER VIEW

2009-06-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

NOSTALGIA

2009-06-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to run across a program of big bands of the early 20Th century
on public television . We were blessed during that time with a bunch of wonderful Jewish song writers and lyricists who gave us all the oldies that we love. The bands were wonderful, the vocalists superb, the lyrics meaningful. We spent several hours of listening pleasure.
Unfortunately, public TV has a bad habit of interrupting the good programs with tedious
solicitations for contributions. That's why clickers were invented. We clicked away to CBS
which was running the Tony awards noncommittally. What a bore ! The costumes were elaborate and the singing was delivered with great gusto but not one note was or will be memorable. In short, the music was borderline lousy. I understand that people pay big bucks to see these productions. There must be some better way to spend the $100+ which we understand it costs to get in.
I forgot to mention that the oldie bands often played muted trunpets which no one seems to do anymore. It softens the brassy sound and should be revived.

New Patio picture

2009-06-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

Here is our new patio as referenced in my last post!

NEW TERRACE

2009-06-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

The last month or so has been traumatic. A low bidder fly be night person put in the new terrace so badly that we had to have it replaced. This involved getting the old concrete out and pouring the new. It turned out so badly that both Jan and I were disgusted. Meanwhile, the fly by night collected his modest charge and disappeared.
With much help from some of the kids ,a competent person was hired to redo the whole thing.
Once again the concrete was removed and new concrete poured the way it should have been the first time. A beautiful mottled ocher color was incorporated right into the concrete and a pattern was put in while the concrete was still fresh. Turned out great.
We threw a small neighborhood party last night and inaugurated it. Once again, we are sleeping at night without having to worry about such things.
Speaking of incompetent people, my newly contracted tax preparers finally finished my 2008 tax return. They had no clue about how to handle some of the items on my return. I think they did a poor job but at least I finally got something off to the dear old IRS.
I also got a nasty note from the afore mentioned IRS about my 2007 return. I have turned this problem over to a CPA who seems to know what he is doing.
We will be off the North Carolina in about twenty days. Many of my vast readership may join us there.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

2009-05-20T06:43:00.000-07:00

Why do you suppose that almost all professional basketball games are played late at night ?
Although I am not a big fan of the game, when the Houston team got into the playoffs I got
excited and watched all the games at the expense of a decent nights sleep. Children most
likely never get to see these games, much less go to them. By the way, attending games has
become ruinously expensive thanks to the ridiculous salaries payed to the enormous thugs
that we seem to like to watch.

Why do the auto companies think that we need autos that can go from 0 to 60 in 4,5,0r 6 seconds and reach speeds of 130+ miles per hour ? When is the last time you got going that fast that quickly and why did you do it ? Top speeds of 100 mph should be sufficient. How about
0-60 in 12 seconds ? I have noticed that some of the overpowered cars cut out half the cylinders
when cruising at highway speeds. Engines half as powerful but differently geared to allow decent
acceleration would make the cars acceptable. They might use much less gasoline as well.

Yesterday was a good day. My incompetent tax preparers finally got my 2008 return done.
I don't think they did a good job and even I spotted a few errors. Heretofore, I have done my own returns but decided this year to get it done. Big mistake. The other good things : Jan and I
won our duplicate bridge game rather handily. All we get for this is the glory but we feel more
than adequately rewarded. Tuesday is trivia night at the Burlap Barrel and our team came out ahead. Here we won $40.00 of free drinks. I wonder if we are getting smarter or if everyone is getting stupider.

A FEW BAD DAYS

2009-05-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

If there is something that can be put off, always do so . Also, never be pressured
by your spouse to do things that you don't want to do. This thing was the continual
complaint about the condition of our back patio which, over the years had developed
many large and unsightly cracks. We (she) decided to fix it.
We got a nice lowball quote and ordered the work done. What the quoter didn't know was that the concrete to be removed was six+ inches thick and had hardened
over the last 40 years. Three days of jack hammering is almost more than one can
bear. A mountain of chunks blocked our driveway for days. The coloring added to the concrete is splotchy. The mess left behind was unbelievable.
Jan was in serious danger when she told me that she hates what they did. I don't care for it too much either but would cut my throat before mentioning it.
The final parting indignity-As they moved the patio table back to the patio, somehow the glass top shattered into millions of tiny shards. I didn't see what they had done to cause this so we took the loss and didn't argue about it. Today we went out and purchased a new table and umbrella. Jan isn't my mom but happy mom's day.
The moral of the story ( if there is one): You gets what you pays for.

WORST NIGHTMARE

2009-05-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

Just got a call from Virginia ( sister, not the state ) and she tells me that they had a terrible accident which destroyed their little Prius and bruised the sisters in the car pretty much. Injuries were confined to bruises all over and considerable soreness.
The nightmare part of the story is what might have been. Here we all are, driving about every day and at any moment we can get injured or killed. I think about this often. I don't want any dead family or friend. Do what I do. Drive slowly and carefully
so that if you do crash, you might survive.

DOOM AND GLOOM

2009-04-18T09:22:00.001-07:00

Two dark and rainy days in a row and more to come tomorrow has done nothing to make thing rosier. I am being attacked by the IRS again. When I think of the puny little summ that they want from me and compare it to the trillions being spent by the Obama administration I wonder why they are after my few thousand dollars. I have finally given up on the idea that I can do my own taxes and have hired a professional who seems to be having trouble solving my problem. This in turn has caused me to have trouble sleeping. That, of course, is stupid as it solves nothing.
My skin doctor tells me that I need an operation in a hurry. He should have been nicer to me since I have helped him make payments on his fancy Mercedes. Tuesday I go in for what is really a very minor surgery but, since I am on a doom and gloom kick, I am allowing this to help keep me awake.
I will not burden my vast readership with any more of my troubles. Next time you hear from me I feel sure that I will once again be my usual amusing self

TWITTER

2009-04-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

One keeps hearing about twitter or twittering(tweeting). Just what is it ? I see that the messages on twitter are very limited. My blogs, usually brief, are not limited. I can write on forever if it suits my fancy.
Unfortunately, the blog seems passe now , leaving me and fellow blogers in the dustbin of history. Modern technology has left us behind.

A FEW MORE THINGS THAT i LIKE

2009-03-17T07:08:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention in previous blog that I like policemen, firemen and soldiers.
I admire also such people as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, appliance fixers and other such types.
Stangely, I like all the lawyers that I have dealt with as well as CPAs. My, what an extensive list ! Polititions, not so much.

WHAT DO I LIKE ?

2009-03-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

From a previous blog it was suggested that I become a nudist. Even in those days long gone, when I looked pretty good even naked, I still wore clothing. They tend to keep one warm as well as hide ones physical shortcomings. So, I don't hate cloths but have a minimal interest in them.

What do I like ? 1) Dogs{ They are loyal, protective, affectionate, playful and insufferably cute.
Where in this world can we find different species so attached to one another ? They can be a bit smelly but nobody is perfect.

2) Books: I don't love all books. The ones I like best are short with very large print. ( As one grows older ones eyesight grows dimmer and there may come a sad point at which reading becomes difficult or worse, impossible.) Also important, good writing, good stories, be they fiction or non fiction. History and historical fiction appeal. Humor is preferred over tragedy. Strangely,I dislike book stores. They are overwhelming with thousands of books, 99.9% of no interest.

3) people : Sadly, there are people that I don't much care for such as the liars, cheats, criminals and the stupid. Those I do like :The intelligent, friendly, generous, loyal , affectionate ( the same qualities I like in dogs ). Th0se that I like most should have a sense of humor (i e, they laugh at my mots).

4) Miscellaneous: TV ( I'm addicted but selective), card games,boggle ( yes, I still play it frequently ), a rum and coke cocktail in the evening with convivial friends, certain writers. Mark Twain pops into mind. Like some of the old poets each sentence and phrase is polished and honed, every word just where it belongs. Reread, as I have, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.
Memorable lines follow one another in a writing tour de force.

5) I love my family and my country.( How sad to see it in such dire straits.

There are more but this is a sample of some of the things I like.