Enough Already

I can no longer tolerate the nasty tone, the accusations, the negative barbs, and the criticism of all things political—on one side or the other—heard on talk radio. For years, I've tuned in to Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Savage, et al, but I simply can't stomach any of it any longer.

Now, anyone who knows a bit about me knows I'm a libertarian-leaning dude, which puts me a long, long way from being a fan of the current occupant of the Oval Office. But really, how different will the next four years turn out with someone else at the helm? Simply stated, the next President, no matter who will be as much on the take from big money as anyone else has been in recent memory.

C'mon, we all know that money runs the show. The candidates need multi-millions to run a winning campaign and there are those groups out there that will gladly ante up...with great expectations for a nice return of investment.

So, where does that leave little ol' you 'n' me? What difference do our likes, dislikes, and favorite causes make in the direction these candidates take? Until someone, maybe, someday, somehow has the guts to change the way of American politics, we will not see change for the better. Those that must make the changes are those most benefiting from the way things currently flow; who wants to rock that boat?

Therefore, I'm switching off talk radio in favor of podcasting, by and large. There are podcasts available, free, for just about any subject you could name. Astronomy, tech news and advice, cooking, survival prep, business, education, science...name your interest. For me, time is much better spent on things that I truly enjoy and may benefit from hearing.

I'm looking forward to a refreshing, positive change—a change in how I productively spend some of my spare time, not in how things work in politics or the negativity of talk radio.

2012 Garden Update

Here we are in mid-June and the garden is coming along, slowly, but surely. My experiment with heirloom seeds, purchased two years ago, failed miserably for year three unfortunately. I tried to keep the leftover seeds dry, cool and in darkness, but I experienced very little germination from them this year. The first two years produced well for us, anyway.

We bought new seeds and planted cilantro, green pole beans, marigolds (they're a great deterrent for some insect pests) and some green onions. This was in addition to the peppers—regular green and Cubanelle hot ones—cukes, peas and two varieties of tomatoes in the ground.

Check out that monster raspberry patch beyond the veggie garden.
Someone had better do a much more thorough pruning job on them this Fall.

The good news is that we had fourteen "volunteer" tomato plants appear! Since we save all kitchen veggie scraps to add to our compost pile, obviously some tomato seeds survived from last year's crop. We'll see how well they do, in addition to the 8 plants we purchased, but so far they're doing pretty well, as evidenced by this little guy, below:

If most of the tomato plants survive and produce well, I may have to open
a little produce stand down on the street corner.

This little volunteer didn't like the way I dug it up and transplanted it to an open area in the garden. Oh well, you can't win them all. 

We have nice blossoms on our two green pepper plants.

I know my little sister in southern Texas is chuckling at these immature plantings. She's already harvested and canned green beans this year! What a difference 1,200 or so miles can make in one's growing season.

Sweet Thursday

Sweet Thursday is of course the day following Lousy Wednesday. To better describe Lousy Wednesday, Steinbeck's own words do it best:

"Some days are born ugly. From the very first light they are no damn good whatever the weather, and everybody knows it. No one knows what causes this, but on such a day people resist getting out of bed and set their heels against the day. When they are finally forced out by hunger or job they find that the day is just as lousy as they knew it would be.
"On such a day it is impossible to make a good cup of coffee, shoestrings break, cups leap from the shelf by themselves and shatter on the floor, children ordinarily honest tell lies, and children ordinarily good unscrew the tap handles of the gas range and lose the screws and have to be spanked. This is the day the cat chooses to have kittens and housebroken dogs wet the parlor rug.
"Oh, it’s awful on such a day! The postman brings overdue bills. If it’s sunny it’s too damn sunny, and if it is dark who can stand it?" --John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday

The novel Sweet Thursday, John Steinbeck's sequel to his great Cannery Row, has always held a place of special honor on my bookshelf because of the wonderful way Steinbeck weaves the relationships between friends, those wanting to help another yet having no clue as to how to best achieve a good result. I can't recall when I first read Sweet Thursday; perhaps in one of those high school English classes, but I'll defer to Clay on that one.

There are dozens of delightful exchanges, from which one can either laugh or, perhaps more often, scratch your head and say, "yeah, exactly!" Here's a perfect example:

"... "You know, Suzy, there ain't no way in the world to get in trouble by keeping your mouth shut. You look back at every mess you ever got in and you'll find your tongue started it."
"That's true," said Suzy. "But I can't seem to stop."
"You got to learn it like you learn anything else---just practice. The next thing is opinions. Hell Suzy, we ain't got no opinions! We just say stuff we heard or seen in the movies. We're scared we'll miss something, like running for a bus. That's the second rule: lay off opinions because you ain't really got any."
"You got 'em numbered, huh?" said Suzy.
"I could write a book," said Fauna. "'If She Could, I Could.' Now take number three. There don't nobody listen, and it's so easy! You don't have to do nothing when you listen. If you do listen it's pretty interesting. If a guy says something that pricks up your interest, why, don't hide it from him, kind of try to wonder what he's thinking instead of how you're going to answer him back."
"You're sure putting the finger on me," Suzy said softly.
"I only got a little more, but it's the hardest of all, and the easiest."
"What number?"
"I lost track. Don't pretend to be something you ain't, and don't make like you know something you don't, or sooner or later you'll sure fall on your ass. And there's one more part to this one, whatever number it is: they ain't nobody was ever insulted by a question. S'pose Doc says something and you don't know what it means. Ask him! The nicest thing in the world you can do for anybody is let them help you.""

The following passage, however, is The One that has always grabbed me, slapped me up side of my head and held fast:

Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there's time, the bastard Time. The end of life is now not so terribly far away--you can see it the way you see the finish line when you come into the stretch--and your mind says, "Have I worked enough? Have I eaten enough? Have I loved enough?" All of these, of course, are the foundation of man's greatest curse, and perhaps his greatest glory. "What has my life meant so far, and what can it mean in the time left to me?" And now we're coming to the wicked, poisoned dart: "What have I contributed to the Great Ledger? What am I worth?" And this isn't vanity or ambition. Men seem to be born with a debt they can never pay no matter how hard they try. It piles up ahead of them. Man owes something to man. If he ignores the debt it poisons him, and if he tries to make payments the debt only increases, and the quality of his gift is the measure of the man.

I encourage you to chew on that mouthful of wisdom for a while!


I just downloaded the Kindle version of Sweet Thursday to my iPad. I look forward to becoming reacquainted with that old friend and thought-provoking source of insight, as well as the interesting cast of characters contained within its pages.

America a Dictatorship?

From the film Borat, via The Big Picture by Barry Ritholtz:

"Why are you guys so anti-dictators? Imagine if America was a dictatorship. You could let 1 percent of the people have all the nation’s wealth. You could help your rich friends get richer by cutting their taxes and bailing them out when they gamble and lose. You could ignore the needs of the poor for health care and education. Your media would appear free, but would secretly be controlled by one person and his family. You could wiretap phones. You could torture foreign prisoners. You could have rigged elections. You could lie about why you go to war. You could fill your prisons with one particular racial group and no one would complain. You could use the media to scare the people into supporting policies that are against their interests.” 

Satire at its best...or is it??? Just saying', hopin' it will give rise to some thoughts about where we've come. Are we where we should be? Not that I necessarily agree with all the points above, but some are very close to hitting the mark.

We find ourselves on very shaky, very concern-filled ground in many areas. What can be done to turn things around?

If You're Readin' This

It would have been perhaps more timely to post this yesterday, Memorial Day, but no day is a bad day to think about and appreciate the sacrifices of our troops. I hope you gathered your family, fired up the grill, and enjoyed the sunshine in the peace our soldiers, sailors, and airmen have kept in place for us.

That being said, I must report my huge disappointment when I noticed just ours and one other house in our neighborhood were displaying Old Glory yesterday. Was your flag up and proudly waving in the breeze? Perhaps it's up every day, even every hour, and if so I commend you. There are, however, certain days when I feel every American should fly the flag to indicate their love of country and/or their appreciation and recognition of our troops.

So today I offer my thanks to those who didn't make it home by posting the following video and Tim McGraw song. My heartfelt thanks goes out to those who gave it all, and to the families they left behind.

Sad Homecoming

Two evenings ago, I had the privilege to help welcome home a young man for the final time. Air Force SSgt Joe Weems, a 2005 graduate of our local high school, was killed near Ramstein Air Base in Germany in a very unfortunate accident just days before he was to return home and reenter civilian life. He had served six years and was about to receive his honorable discharge.

We were glad to be among the couple hundred folks lining the street as the procession of Sheriff deputies, fire trucks, the hearse carrying his flag-draped coffin, and the limos bearing his family members entered the funeral home parking lot, having just transported his body from the airport. It was certainly gratifying to see the good turnout of citizens and the way the township and county honored the fallen airman.

SSgt Weems wasn't killed as a result of enemy action. He did, however, serve his country well during his six-year enlistment. He deserved every bit of respect we could offer; I'm certain his family appreciated the support of so many neighbors during this time of unimaginable grief.

Rest in peace, Airman; thank you for your service.


Read the full story here. 

                                                                                              WOOD-TV photo

A Guy Takes His Zebra into this Bar...

Sorry, no punchline here, although you may be looking for one. This is a true story, believe it or not and it certainly caught my eye. Indeed, truth is sometimes more strange than fiction.

From the Des Moines, Iowa Register via The Detroit Free Press, as written by Grant Rodgers on May 23, 2012:


Man charged with drunken driving after taking zebra into bar

Most people might leave their pets behind
when going for a drink at the local watering
hole. Not Jerald Reiter, a longtime farmer
and exotic pet owner.

The Cascade man’s arrest Sunday outside
the Dog House Lounge in Dubuque on a
charge of operating while intoxicated
gained attention across the state when it
was reported that he had a zebra and a
macaw inside his vehicle. For Reiter, taking
Pee Wee, the 3-month-old zebra, and
Izzy, the parrot, out in his truck and
elsewhere isn’t out of the ordinary.
Reiter, 55, told the Des Moines Register
that the zebra and parrot are like friends
to him and they often spend time indoors
and ride in his vehicles. The animals visit
neighbors, and the parrot has been on
trips to the local feed store, Reiter said.
On Sunday, after doing chores and eating
dinner, Reiter said he decided to take the
animals to the Dog House, where he
thought they’d be allowed.

“I said, ‘Let’s go for a ride. I ain’t been
away from the farm for almost two months
because I’ve been planting corn and
everything else,’” he said. “So I opened the
door, the zebra jumps in, the macaw loves
to go for a ride, so we went for a ride.”
Reiter said he’d had three mixed drinks
with his dinner before leaving.

Immediately upon walking into the bar,
Reiter said, a group began taking pictures
with the zebra. That’s when he was told he
couldn’t have the animals in the bar, he
said.

Reiter said he’s seen dogs in the bar.
However, a bartender who answered the
phone at the Dog House on Tuesday
afternoon said she’s never seen animals
inside the establishment and that they are
not allowed. She said she’s heard the
rumor, possibly because of the bar’s
name, that dogs have been allowed inside.
After Reiter left the bar with a friend, he
put the animals back in the truck. He said
he got in the truck with the macaw on his
shoulder and began backing up when his
friend asked if he should drive instead.
Reiter agreed and said he was out of the
truck, switching seats with his friend, when
police arrived.

Police were called to the bar at 11:37 p.m.
to check on the animals’ welfare, said Lt.
Steve Radloff of the Dubuque Police
Department. Police gave Reiter field
sobriety tests, and he was arrested and
charged with operating while intoxicated.

The worst part of the incident, Reiter said,
is that he feels as though he’s been
branded as mistreating his animals.
The zebra and the parrot were never left
alone inside the vehicle, except for when
the police arrived, he said.
“We pulled in, we unloaded, we loaded
them back up,” he said.
Reiter was not charged with any crime
relating to the animals, Radloff said.

After Reiter’s arrest, his friend drove the
animals back to his farm, which has cattle,
other zebras and Watusi, a type of African
cattle known for their long horns. Reiter
says he enjoys keeping the animals and
wants to start taking them to parades.
“We almost got Izzy riding on the back of
Pee Wee so we can, you know, take them
to the parades,” Reiter said.