Do you need that "special gift" for someone? Well, here is a list of the most popular tools every "do-it-yourselfer" would love to add to his/her tool box, along with a description of each one.
TOOLS EXPLAINED (for the "Do-it-Yourselfer")
DRILL PRESS:
A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.
WIRE WHEEL:
Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light . Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, 'Oh sh--!'
SKIL SAW:
A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.
PLIERS:
Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.
BELT SANDER:
An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.
HACKSAW:
One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle... It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
VISE-GRIPS:
Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
OXYACETYLENE TORCH:
Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.
TABLE SAW:
A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.
HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK:
Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes , trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.
BAND SAW:
A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.
TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST:
A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.
PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER:
Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.
STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER:
A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.
PRY BAR:
A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.
HOSE CUTTER:
A tool used to make hoses too short.
HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.
UTILITY KNIFE:
Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.
SON-OF-A-BITCH TOOL: (A personal favorite!)
Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling 'SON OF A BITCH!' at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.
Hope you found this helpful and informative.
Oh, and Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
The Colonoscopy Journal
In culling my e-mail files, I came across this "gem". This is a piece written by Dave Barry some time ago, prior to his first colonoscopy. I think that it offers a very humorous look at this "dreaded" procedure, and I believe that anyone who has undergone one will agree.
ABOUT THE WRITER: Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald.
Colonoscopy Journal:
I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis. Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!'
I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America 's enemies...
I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons). Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.
The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose, watery bowel movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.
MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but, have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.
After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic.. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.
At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked..
Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep.. At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.
When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point..
Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand.
There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' had to be the least appropriate.
'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me..
'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.
I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine', and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that It was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.
On the subject of Colonoscopies... Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous..... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies:
1. 'Take it easy Doc.. You’re boldly going where no man has gone before.'
2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'
3. 'Can you hear me NOW?'
4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'
5. 'You know, in Arkansas , we're now legally married.'
6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'
7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'
8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'
9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!'
10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'
11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'
12. 'God, now I know why I am not gay.'
And the best one of all:
13. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?'
Thanks, Dave, for this humorous look at the COLONOSCOPY!
If you're not laughing, you just wait 'til it's your turn...
ABOUT THE WRITER: Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald.
Colonoscopy Journal:
I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis. Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!'
I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America 's enemies...
I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons). Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.
The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose, watery bowel movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.
MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but, have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.
After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic.. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.
At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked..
Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep.. At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.
When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point..
Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand.
There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' had to be the least appropriate.
'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me..
'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.
I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine', and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that It was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.
On the subject of Colonoscopies... Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous..... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies:
1. 'Take it easy Doc.. You’re boldly going where no man has gone before.'
2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'
3. 'Can you hear me NOW?'
4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'
5. 'You know, in Arkansas , we're now legally married.'
6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'
7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'
8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'
9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!'
10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'
11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'
12. 'God, now I know why I am not gay.'
And the best one of all:
13. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?'
Thanks, Dave, for this humorous look at the COLONOSCOPY!
If you're not laughing, you just wait 'til it's your turn...
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Something to Think About
Something to Think About
This is a long read but, worth it.
WHAT CHOICES HAVE YOU MADE TODAY?
Even though this address was made over three years ago, doesn't it fit today? Worth reading, thinking about and putting the Power Of Choice to work everyday!!!
***************************************
Commencement Address (Texas A&M). Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008
Neal Boortz is a Texan, a lawyer, a Texas AGGIE (Texas A&M), and now a nationally syndicated talk show host from Atlanta. His commencement address to the graduates of this year's A&M class is far different from what either the students or the faculty expected. His views are thought provoking. This Texas lawyer, himself recipient of an Honorary Degree, is obviously opinionated, but to say what he did, in a commencement address, in front of a class of Texas A &M graduates, and especially the faculty, is amazing. I would have loved to have been there just to see the faculty reaction. This should be considered must-reading for every adult in North America. It is extremely rare that anyone speaks the truth like this at any College or High School Commencement Address.
His address:
"I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion. It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impress you; you'll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you can bet your tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration. You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You will remember it, though. Especially after about 10 years out there in the real world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees.
This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the old saying that those who can - do. Those who can't - teach. That sounds deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity, just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out there and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and teach.
By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma doesn't mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handed me my private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this is your ticket to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. Believe me, the learning has just begun.
Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact, you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all, you're a compassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that just so extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a liberal; as good a time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in.
Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast... including your own assessment of just how much you really know.
So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality: Pay attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the words and phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil, heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you will hear "I feel." From the Right you will hear "I think." From the Liberals you will hear references to groups -- The Blacks, the Poor, The Rich, The Disadvantaged, The Less Fortunate. From the Right you will hear references to individuals. On the Left you hear talk of group rights; on the Right, individual rights.
That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are pack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics. Conservatives think -- and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual.
Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives, I among them I might add, think that individuals have the right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the masses.
In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority, but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now.
If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourself to be a conservative, rush right back here as quickly as you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome you with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you haven't developed an individual identity. Once again you will have to be willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during the past four years.
Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your eyes. You're going to actually get a full time job!
You're also going to get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn't going to help you do your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait for payday. This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, but in your earnings.
Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every teenager with an illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who wanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind their teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself to be a meaningful and talented artist, but who just can't manage to sell any of her artwork on the open market.
Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any, job skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid. An agent for multi-million dollar companies who want someone else to pay for their overseas advertising. An agent for everybody who wants to use the unimaginable power of this agent's for their personal enrichment and benefit..
That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive government. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this agent has.. Power that you do not have. A power that no individual has, or will have. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to accomplish its goals.
You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out, and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one ton gorilla. It will sleep anywhere it wants to.
Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become successful it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'm sorry, there just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you can't decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not you.
So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. Well, be clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise government for government is inherently evil. Yes ... a necessary evil, but dangerous nonetheless...somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that in the proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can be fatal.
Now let's address a few things that have been crammed into your minds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon as possible.. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they fail miserably out there in the real world.
First is that favorite buzz word of the media and academia: Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of people - be it a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever - is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal because diversity is based not on an individual's abilities or character, but on a person's identity and status as a member of a group. Yes, it's that liberal group identity thing again.
Within the great diversity movement group identification - be it racial, gender based, or some other minority status - means more than the individual's integrity, character or other qualifications.
Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your professors have taught you over the last four years, you are about to learn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence, ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time you hear the word "diversity" you can rest assured that there is someone close by who is determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality you possess.
We also need to address this thing you seem to have about "rights." We have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called "rights" in the last few decades, usually emanating from college campuses.
You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a place to live. The right to a living wage. The right to health care. The right to an education. You probably even have your own pet right - the right to a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so.
Forget it. Forget those rights! I'll tell you what your rights are. You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your labor. I'll also tell that you have no right to any portion of the life or labor of another.
You may, for instance, think that you have a right to health care. After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of his time - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this for compensation, but that's his choice. You have no "right" to his time or property.. You have no right to his or any other person's life or to any portion thereof.
You may also think you have some "right" to a job; a job with a living wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right to force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure you would scream if some urban outdoorsmen (that would be "homeless person" for those of you who don't want to give these less fortunate people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his job and your money.
The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have are simply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles. Their being imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It's their right, and they exercise it brilliantly.
By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase "less fortunate" a bit ago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is a favorite of the Left. Think about it, and you'll understand why.
To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spaced out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is "less fortunate" is to imply that a successful person - one with a job, a home and a future - is in that position because he or she was "fortunate." The dictionary says that fortunate means "having derived good from an unexpected place." There is nothing unexpected about deriving good from hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street.
If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success and failure are simple matters of "fortune" or "luck," then it is easy to promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes. After all, we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This "success equals luck" idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere. Former Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to high-achievers as "people who have won life's lottery." He wants you to believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky. It's not luck, my friends. It's choice. One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og Mandino, entitled, "The Greatest Secret in the World." The lesson? Very simple: "Use wisely your power of choice."
That bum sitting on a heating grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He's there by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choices he has made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some people to accept, especially those who consider themselves to be victims of something or other - victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system, capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame for his or her position in life. Not when it is so much easier to point and say, "Look! He did this to me!" than it is to look into a mirror and say, "You did this to me!"
The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the fact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to either success or failure, however you define those terms.
Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school Whether or not to get pregnant. Whether or not to hit the bottle. Whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get another better-paying job. Whether or not to save some of your money, or saddle yourself with huge payments for that new car.
Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to the movies with. Whose car to ride home in. Whether to watch the tube tonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure of this, each choice counts. Each choice is a building block - some large, some small. But each one is a part of the structure of your life. If you make the right choices, or if you make more right choices than wrong ones, something absolutely terrible may happen to you. Something unthinkable. You, my friend, could become one of the hated, the evil, the ugly, the feared, the filthy, the successful, the rich.
The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, they provide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains for the formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people. Businesses that send millions of paychecks home each week to the un-rich.
Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, and hatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envy most Americans feel for the evil rich.
Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more powerful than the emotional minefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when he reviewed his last batch of White House interns. Politicians use envy to get votes and power. And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied will be punished: "The rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I have anything to do with it." The truth is that the top 10% of income earners in this country pays almost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder to think what these job producers would be paying if our tax system were any more "fair."
You have heard, no doubt, that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Interestingly enough, our government's own numbers show that many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a few of the rich actually get poorer. But for the rich who do actually get richer, and the poor who remain poor .. there's an explanation -- a reason. The rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich; while the poor keep doing the things that make them poor.
Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear an endless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor. So, you need to know that under our government's definition of "poor" you can have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes, all completely paid for. You can also have a maid, cook, and valet, and a million in your checking account, and you can still be officially defined by our government as "living in poverty." Now there's something you haven't seen on the evening news.
How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. To determine whether or not some poor soul is "living in poverty", the government measures one thing -- just one thing. Income.
It doesn't matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars you drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whether you winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how much is in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim in that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the money in your savings and checking accounts while you write the next great American novel, the government says you are 'living in poverty."
This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy statistics, is it? Do you need more convincing? Try this. The government's own statistics show that people who are said to be "living in poverty" spend more than $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim. Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time Charles Gibson tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics.
Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because the government needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfare programs, which translates into an expansion of its power. If the government can convince you, in all your compassion, that the number of "poor" is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive Compassion Disorder.
I'm about to be stoned by the faculty here. They've already changed their minds about that honorary degree I was going to get. That's OK, though. I still have my PhD. in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz Institute for Insensitivity Training. I learned that, in short, sensitivity sucks. It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no sensitivity. Life can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you'll be unable to deal with life, or the truth, so get over it.
Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a few random thoughts.
* You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you are living off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sitting down and shutting up until you are on your own again.
* When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are more important than your vote for President. The House controls the purse strings, so concentrate your awareness there.
* Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the President of the country. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send them packing.
* Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument of plunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else who earned it -- to take their money by force for your own needs -- then it is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the government step forward and do this dirty work for you.
* Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there. What they earn is theirs. What you earn is yours. Keep it that way.. Nobody owes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, and leave you alone.
* Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers. Forty hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't see highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at five. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The winners drive home in the dark.
* Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.
* Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote,
"1. Proclaim your rarity. Each of you is a rare and unique human being.
2. Use wisely your power of choice.
3. Go the extra mile .. drive home in the dark.
Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can. Now, if you have any idea at all what's good for you, you will get the hell out of here and never come back.
Class dismissed!"
This is a long read but, worth it.
WHAT CHOICES HAVE YOU MADE TODAY?
Even though this address was made over three years ago, doesn't it fit today? Worth reading, thinking about and putting the Power Of Choice to work everyday!!!
***************************************
Commencement Address (Texas A&M). Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008
Neal Boortz is a Texan, a lawyer, a Texas AGGIE (Texas A&M), and now a nationally syndicated talk show host from Atlanta. His commencement address to the graduates of this year's A&M class is far different from what either the students or the faculty expected. His views are thought provoking. This Texas lawyer, himself recipient of an Honorary Degree, is obviously opinionated, but to say what he did, in a commencement address, in front of a class of Texas A &M graduates, and especially the faculty, is amazing. I would have loved to have been there just to see the faculty reaction. This should be considered must-reading for every adult in North America. It is extremely rare that anyone speaks the truth like this at any College or High School Commencement Address.
His address:
"I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion. It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impress you; you'll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you can bet your tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration. You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You will remember it, though. Especially after about 10 years out there in the real world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees.
This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the old saying that those who can - do. Those who can't - teach. That sounds deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity, just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out there and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and teach.
By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma doesn't mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handed me my private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this is your ticket to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. Believe me, the learning has just begun.
Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact, you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all, you're a compassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that just so extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a liberal; as good a time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in.
Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast... including your own assessment of just how much you really know.
So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality: Pay attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the words and phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil, heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you will hear "I feel." From the Right you will hear "I think." From the Liberals you will hear references to groups -- The Blacks, the Poor, The Rich, The Disadvantaged, The Less Fortunate. From the Right you will hear references to individuals. On the Left you hear talk of group rights; on the Right, individual rights.
That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are pack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics. Conservatives think -- and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual.
Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives, I among them I might add, think that individuals have the right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the masses.
In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority, but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now.
If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourself to be a conservative, rush right back here as quickly as you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome you with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you haven't developed an individual identity. Once again you will have to be willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during the past four years.
Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your eyes. You're going to actually get a full time job!
You're also going to get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn't going to help you do your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait for payday. This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, but in your earnings.
Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every teenager with an illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who wanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind their teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself to be a meaningful and talented artist, but who just can't manage to sell any of her artwork on the open market.
Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any, job skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid. An agent for multi-million dollar companies who want someone else to pay for their overseas advertising. An agent for everybody who wants to use the unimaginable power of this agent's for their personal enrichment and benefit..
That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive government. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this agent has.. Power that you do not have. A power that no individual has, or will have. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to accomplish its goals.
You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out, and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one ton gorilla. It will sleep anywhere it wants to.
Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become successful it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'm sorry, there just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you can't decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not you.
So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. Well, be clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise government for government is inherently evil. Yes ... a necessary evil, but dangerous nonetheless...somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that in the proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can be fatal.
Now let's address a few things that have been crammed into your minds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon as possible.. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they fail miserably out there in the real world.
First is that favorite buzz word of the media and academia: Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of people - be it a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever - is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal because diversity is based not on an individual's abilities or character, but on a person's identity and status as a member of a group. Yes, it's that liberal group identity thing again.
Within the great diversity movement group identification - be it racial, gender based, or some other minority status - means more than the individual's integrity, character or other qualifications.
Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your professors have taught you over the last four years, you are about to learn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence, ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time you hear the word "diversity" you can rest assured that there is someone close by who is determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality you possess.
We also need to address this thing you seem to have about "rights." We have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called "rights" in the last few decades, usually emanating from college campuses.
You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a place to live. The right to a living wage. The right to health care. The right to an education. You probably even have your own pet right - the right to a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so.
Forget it. Forget those rights! I'll tell you what your rights are. You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your labor. I'll also tell that you have no right to any portion of the life or labor of another.
You may, for instance, think that you have a right to health care. After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of his time - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this for compensation, but that's his choice. You have no "right" to his time or property.. You have no right to his or any other person's life or to any portion thereof.
You may also think you have some "right" to a job; a job with a living wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right to force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure you would scream if some urban outdoorsmen (that would be "homeless person" for those of you who don't want to give these less fortunate people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his job and your money.
The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have are simply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles. Their being imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It's their right, and they exercise it brilliantly.
By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase "less fortunate" a bit ago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is a favorite of the Left. Think about it, and you'll understand why.
To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spaced out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is "less fortunate" is to imply that a successful person - one with a job, a home and a future - is in that position because he or she was "fortunate." The dictionary says that fortunate means "having derived good from an unexpected place." There is nothing unexpected about deriving good from hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street.
If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success and failure are simple matters of "fortune" or "luck," then it is easy to promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes. After all, we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This "success equals luck" idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere. Former Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to high-achievers as "people who have won life's lottery." He wants you to believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky. It's not luck, my friends. It's choice. One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og Mandino, entitled, "The Greatest Secret in the World." The lesson? Very simple: "Use wisely your power of choice."
That bum sitting on a heating grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He's there by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choices he has made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some people to accept, especially those who consider themselves to be victims of something or other - victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system, capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame for his or her position in life. Not when it is so much easier to point and say, "Look! He did this to me!" than it is to look into a mirror and say, "You did this to me!"
The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the fact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to either success or failure, however you define those terms.
Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school Whether or not to get pregnant. Whether or not to hit the bottle. Whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get another better-paying job. Whether or not to save some of your money, or saddle yourself with huge payments for that new car.
Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to the movies with. Whose car to ride home in. Whether to watch the tube tonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure of this, each choice counts. Each choice is a building block - some large, some small. But each one is a part of the structure of your life. If you make the right choices, or if you make more right choices than wrong ones, something absolutely terrible may happen to you. Something unthinkable. You, my friend, could become one of the hated, the evil, the ugly, the feared, the filthy, the successful, the rich.
The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, they provide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains for the formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people. Businesses that send millions of paychecks home each week to the un-rich.
Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, and hatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envy most Americans feel for the evil rich.
Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more powerful than the emotional minefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when he reviewed his last batch of White House interns. Politicians use envy to get votes and power. And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied will be punished: "The rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I have anything to do with it." The truth is that the top 10% of income earners in this country pays almost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder to think what these job producers would be paying if our tax system were any more "fair."
You have heard, no doubt, that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Interestingly enough, our government's own numbers show that many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a few of the rich actually get poorer. But for the rich who do actually get richer, and the poor who remain poor .. there's an explanation -- a reason. The rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich; while the poor keep doing the things that make them poor.
Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear an endless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor. So, you need to know that under our government's definition of "poor" you can have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes, all completely paid for. You can also have a maid, cook, and valet, and a million in your checking account, and you can still be officially defined by our government as "living in poverty." Now there's something you haven't seen on the evening news.
How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. To determine whether or not some poor soul is "living in poverty", the government measures one thing -- just one thing. Income.
It doesn't matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars you drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whether you winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how much is in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim in that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the money in your savings and checking accounts while you write the next great American novel, the government says you are 'living in poverty."
This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy statistics, is it? Do you need more convincing? Try this. The government's own statistics show that people who are said to be "living in poverty" spend more than $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim. Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time Charles Gibson tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics.
Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because the government needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfare programs, which translates into an expansion of its power. If the government can convince you, in all your compassion, that the number of "poor" is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive Compassion Disorder.
I'm about to be stoned by the faculty here. They've already changed their minds about that honorary degree I was going to get. That's OK, though. I still have my PhD. in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz Institute for Insensitivity Training. I learned that, in short, sensitivity sucks. It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no sensitivity. Life can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you'll be unable to deal with life, or the truth, so get over it.
Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a few random thoughts.
* You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you are living off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sitting down and shutting up until you are on your own again.
* When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are more important than your vote for President. The House controls the purse strings, so concentrate your awareness there.
* Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the President of the country. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send them packing.
* Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument of plunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else who earned it -- to take their money by force for your own needs -- then it is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the government step forward and do this dirty work for you.
* Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there. What they earn is theirs. What you earn is yours. Keep it that way.. Nobody owes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, and leave you alone.
* Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers. Forty hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't see highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at five. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The winners drive home in the dark.
* Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.
* Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote,
"1. Proclaim your rarity. Each of you is a rare and unique human being.
2. Use wisely your power of choice.
3. Go the extra mile .. drive home in the dark.
Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can. Now, if you have any idea at all what's good for you, you will get the hell out of here and never come back.
Class dismissed!"
Thursday, November 17, 2011
New Holiday Gift-giving Tradition?
Christmas & Hanukkah 2011 -- Birth of a New Tradition
I received the following from a friend, and so I thought that the best way to get this message to all of my friends, family and anyone who reads my blog would be to post it! If YOU think this is a great idea, pass it along to all of YOUR friends, family, etc., and let's ALL start a new holiday gift-giving tradition!
"As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high
gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods -- merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor. This year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands.
"Yes, there is!
"It's time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper?
"Everyone -- yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates from your local American hair salon or barber?
"Gym membership? It's appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some health improvement.
"Who wouldn't appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, American owned detail shops and car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a book of gift certificates.
"Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plonking down the Benjamins on a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course.
"There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants -- all offering gift certificates. And, if your intended isn't the fancy eatery sort, what about a half dozen breakfasts at the local breakfast joint. Remember, folks this isn't about big National chains -- this is about supporting your home town Americans with their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open.
"How many people couldn't use an oil change for their car, truck or motorcycle, done at a shop run by the American working guy?
"Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a local cleaning lady for a day.
"My computer could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young guy who is struggling to get his repair business up and running.
"OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin their own wool and knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, and pottery and beautiful wooden boxes.
"Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave your server a nice tip. And, how about going out to see a play or ballet at your hometown theatre.
"Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.
"Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese lights for the house? When you buy a five dollar string of lights, about fifty cents stays in the community. If you have those kinds of bucks to burn, leave the mailman, trash guy or babysitter a nice BIG tip.
"You see, the holidays are no longer about draining American pockets so that China can build another glittering city. Christmas & Hanukkah are now about caring about US, encouraging American small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams. And, when we care about other Americans, we care about our communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine.
"THIS is the new American Holiday tradition."
Feel free to copy and paste this message into an e-mail and forward it to everyone on your mailing list -- post it to discussion groups -- throw up a post on Craigslist in the "Rants and Raves" section in
your city -- send it to the editor of your local paper and radio stations,
and TV news departments.
This is a revolution of caring about each other, and isn't that what the Holidays are about?
I received the following from a friend, and so I thought that the best way to get this message to all of my friends, family and anyone who reads my blog would be to post it! If YOU think this is a great idea, pass it along to all of YOUR friends, family, etc., and let's ALL start a new holiday gift-giving tradition!
"As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high
gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods -- merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor. This year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands.
"Yes, there is!
"It's time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper?
"Everyone -- yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates from your local American hair salon or barber?
"Gym membership? It's appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some health improvement.
"Who wouldn't appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, American owned detail shops and car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a book of gift certificates.
"Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plonking down the Benjamins on a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course.
"There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants -- all offering gift certificates. And, if your intended isn't the fancy eatery sort, what about a half dozen breakfasts at the local breakfast joint. Remember, folks this isn't about big National chains -- this is about supporting your home town Americans with their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open.
"How many people couldn't use an oil change for their car, truck or motorcycle, done at a shop run by the American working guy?
"Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a local cleaning lady for a day.
"My computer could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young guy who is struggling to get his repair business up and running.
"OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin their own wool and knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, and pottery and beautiful wooden boxes.
"Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave your server a nice tip. And, how about going out to see a play or ballet at your hometown theatre.
"Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.
"Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese lights for the house? When you buy a five dollar string of lights, about fifty cents stays in the community. If you have those kinds of bucks to burn, leave the mailman, trash guy or babysitter a nice BIG tip.
"You see, the holidays are no longer about draining American pockets so that China can build another glittering city. Christmas & Hanukkah are now about caring about US, encouraging American small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams. And, when we care about other Americans, we care about our communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine.
"THIS is the new American Holiday tradition."
Feel free to copy and paste this message into an e-mail and forward it to everyone on your mailing list -- post it to discussion groups -- throw up a post on Craigslist in the "Rants and Raves" section in
your city -- send it to the editor of your local paper and radio stations,
and TV news departments.
This is a revolution of caring about each other, and isn't that what the Holidays are about?
Thursday, November 10, 2011
As I approach the "BIG SEVEN-OH"....
Thursday, November 10, 2011 - Orlando, Florida
As I approach my 70th birthday, I've been doing a lot of soul-searching and I offer the following for anyone who cares to read and/or heed....
You know, time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years.
It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate. And yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went.
I know that I lived them all...and I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams... But, here it is...the winter of my life, and it catches me by surprise... How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go?
I remember well...seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like... But, here it is...my friends are retired and getting gray...they move slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than me... but, I see the great change... Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant... but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd be.
Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore...it's mandatory! 'Cause if I don't do it of my own free will...I just fall asleep where I sit!
And so, now I enter into this new season of my life, unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!!
But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I'm not sure how long it will last...this I know, that when it's over...its over....Yes , I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't done, things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime....
So, if you're not in your winter yet...let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly! Don't put things off too long!!
Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not!
You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so, live for good today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!!
'Life is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one!'
LIVE IT WELL!!----ENJOY TODAY!!!!-----DO SOMETHING FUN!!!----BE HAPPY!!!----BE THANKFUL!!!!!
I hope that I have not offended anyone, or made anyone feel saddened or depressed by any of the above. I just wanted to let everyone know what I have been thinking about as I approach my 70th year on this earth.
Thanks for allowing me to put down my thoughts on "paper". I hope my words have made an impression on those of you still in your "summer" or "fall".
As I approach my 70th birthday, I've been doing a lot of soul-searching and I offer the following for anyone who cares to read and/or heed....
You know, time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years.
It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate. And yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went.
I know that I lived them all...and I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams... But, here it is...the winter of my life, and it catches me by surprise... How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go?
I remember well...seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like... But, here it is...my friends are retired and getting gray...they move slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than me... but, I see the great change... Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant... but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd be.
Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore...it's mandatory! 'Cause if I don't do it of my own free will...I just fall asleep where I sit!
And so, now I enter into this new season of my life, unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!!
But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I'm not sure how long it will last...this I know, that when it's over...its over....Yes , I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't done, things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime....
So, if you're not in your winter yet...let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly! Don't put things off too long!!
Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not!
You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so, live for good today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!!
'Life is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one!'
LIVE IT WELL!!----ENJOY TODAY!!!!-----DO SOMETHING FUN!!!----BE HAPPY!!!----BE THANKFUL!!!!!
I hope that I have not offended anyone, or made anyone feel saddened or depressed by any of the above. I just wanted to let everyone know what I have been thinking about as I approach my 70th year on this earth.
Thanks for allowing me to put down my thoughts on "paper". I hope my words have made an impression on those of you still in your "summer" or "fall".
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Visiting the Finger Lakes Region of New York
Thursday, September 22 - Syracuse, NY
After a long, grueling show in Hershey, PA (7 days worth), we decided to relax for a few days in the Finger Lakes Wine Region of New York State, since our next show is here in Syracuse this weekend. We drove from Hershey to Ovid, NY on Monday, arriving at our campground destination around 4PM. Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just chilling.
On Tuesday, we drove up to Seneca Falls, NY to do some shopping. We found a farm stand where the price of farm-fresh vegetables was quite surprisingly low! Needless to say, we stocked up on fresh tomatoes, apples, cabbage, sweet potatoes, green beans, etc., all the essentials! The cost of all the fresh items we purchased came to about half of what we would have paid in a supermarket. I can attest that everything was/is delicious! Kathy made stuffed cabbage with the cabbage (we ate that tonight!); on Tuesday night, she made a chicken dish in the crockpot with the sweet potatoes and green beans. Of course, these meals were complemented by the fine wines of the region.
On Tuesday, we stopped at the Cayuga Estates Winery on the western shore of Cayuga Lake. Here, we sampled some of the wines made in their winery. We each got to sample 6 wines for $2.00/person. Needless to say, we purchased some wine here. One of the wines, Cranberry Essence, we will TRY to save until we get home.
That way, we can serve it at Thanksgiving dinner, since it will go very well with the turkey! We also purchased Chardonnay and Reserve White, two very nice wines (these will not last until Thanksgiving - sorry!).
On Wednesday, we traveled over to the eastern shore of Lake Seneca to find a winery we visited back in 1999, on our last trip to this region. We did find it, the Wagner Winery, and stopped to check it out. What we noticed right away was that they have changed their labels since our last visit, so it was difficult to remember what we liked, so, it was back to the tasting bar to sample more wines (mind you, it was only 11AM when we got there!). At this winery, tasting was at $.50/sample per person. We got to sample the wines we were interested in, and ended up purchasing just a couple of wines here, the Reserve Red and Reserve White. These are the same wines we purchased back in 1999, and we still like them! I also purchased some of their micro-brews. I did not sample any of these, I just picked out a 6-pack of various brews from the cooler. I selected a Pilsner, a Honey Wheat, an Amber Lager, and a Dopplebock.
These I will also TRY to save until we get back home in November (no promises, though!). Remember, I have not sampled any of these brews, so....
We are now situated at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, NY, for a small RV show here. The show starts tomorrow morning at 9AM and runs until 9PM, then again on Saturday, same hours. On Sunday, the last day, the show runs from 9AM to 6PM. From here, we will head out to Wilmington, NC on Monday for another show there next weekend.
Not sure when I will get to post another entry, but I will be sure to notify you when I do. Until then, be safe!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
In the Heart of Amish Country, Ohio
Thursday, August 18 - Berlin, Ohio
While staying at a campground in Horicon, WI, we met a gentleman from Missouri named Bob Unland, an accomplished archer. During the course of our conversations with Bob, he asked if we had been to the Amish settlements of Ohio. He proceeded to tell us about the area, because he had recently visited here. He told us about the beauty of the area, and also about a "master carver", who once lived and worked in the area - Dover, OH, to be exact. He had us spellbound as he told us about the magnificent carvings he had seen at the museum in Dover. We made a decision that night to make it a point to visit this area before going back to Massachusetts.
After another stop in Shipshewana, IN, to pick up a few items, we made our way into Ohio to visit this "phenominal exhibit" in Dover, OH. Another village he mentioned was the town of Berlin, OH. Berlin is known as "The Heart of Amish Country" in Ohio. We found a campground here in Berlin, so this is where we are staying until Friday morning. We did some scouting of the area after dinner on Wednesday evening. I have to pause here to tell you about the amazing food establishments here! We have frequented a few of them in the area, and their food is absolutely delicious!! As an example, dinner last night - I had pork chops (2), mashed potatoes and applesauce, while Kathy had a Grilled Chicken salad - our total bill came to less than $18.00!!! Plus, we shared an appetizer of "French Fried Mushrooms" - which were also delicious! Anyway, back to the main topic - the first photo album contains photos of our "scouting around" the area. One of the towns we visited during our scouting trip was Walnut Creek, OH.
Today we drove into Dover, OH, to visit the Warther Museum and homestead. On the way, we stopped for breakfast at the "Dutch Valley Restaurant" in Sugarcreek, OH, known as the "Switzerland of Ohio", a quaint little town where the buildings resemble a Swiss village. From here, we continued on to Dover, and the Museum. If you have never been to this town, Dover, OH, and if you've never heard of Ernest "Mooney" Warther, then you MUST put it on your "bucket list"! We learned so much about this phenomenal individual that I am not able to put it all in this post. I will, however, share some of the facts we learned while touring the Museum. At around age 9 or so, young Ernest, too young to work at the steel plant, became interested in whittling after seeing a gentleman whittle a pair of working pliers from a single piece of wood. As luck would have it, he found a pocket knife in the dirt while doing some chores. Thus began a career that would transform him from a "whittler" to a "carver", and to become renowned as the "world's greatest carver"! His "passion" was trains, steam locomotives, to be exact. I have posted lots of pictures of his work for you to understand how he came to be known as a "Master Carver". As you browse through these photographs, keep in mind that every one of these pieces was carved by hand. He had no lathes, sanding belts, etc., just simple carving tools, which he designed and made himself. Be sure to click on the link (above) to the Museum before you look at my photographs. There is a video on the web site that is well worth the 3-1/2 minutes it takes to watch.
Some of the facts we learned which truly "blew my mind": every time he would set out to carve one of his models, he would give the exact day that he would be finished. So accurate was he with these estimates that he only missed two times, and one was because he had attended a Christmas Party and he missed his predicted completion date by two days. You see, he knew that he could carve 1,000 "parts" per month, and he also knew, intuitively, how many "parts" each model would take to complete. Another amazing fact we learned, this one regarding the "pliers tree", is that it was carved out of a single piece of wood and yielded 31,000 "pliers". And each and every one of them worked!! He envisioned this masterpiece on his way home from the steel mill, and began working on it shortly after arriving home that evening. Another amazing fact about the "pliers tree" is that it will actually fold back into the single piece of wood he carved it from. There is a photo of the "pliers tree" in the album, so be sure to take a good, close look at it. These "pliers" he carved became his calling card, and he passed them out like cards. He was so good at carving these, that he could turn out a pair of working pliers in about 15 seconds, from a single piece of wood, without any "waste", i.e., no shavings! The fastest pair he ever carved took him 9.5 seconds, on the "Johnny Carson Show". Now, take that knowledge and imagine the "pliers tree", 31,000 pliers, with no waste, from a single piece of wood! Each "pair" of pliers is made by making no more than 10 "cuts" in the wood.
OK, now, I want you to remember that he could carve 1,000 pieces per month. As you look at the photos, when you come to the photo of his "favorite", the "Great Northern" engine # 2577, reverse the number (7752) and that is the exact number of "parts" he had to carve to complete this model! At 1,000 pieces per month, how long did it take him to complete it? Amazing, eh? Also, if we could have videotaped the models, you would see that almost every one of them actually "moved", i.e., the piston-driven arms and wheels actually turned, just like on the real trains!! Even if you are not "into" trains, you will be amazed at this collection, described by the Smithsonian Institution as "priceless treasures".
There is so much more to tell about this "master carver", but you will have to visit to get that information "first-hand". As you scroll through the photographs of his model train carvings, remember that Ernest "Mooney" Carver had only a 2nd Grade education, yet his works put him in the "genius" category! Truly one of the real "wonders" of this world. This is one place we will never forget!
Here are the photo albums:
Berlin, Ohio - The Heart of Amish Country
Breakfast at Dutch Valley Restaurant
Ernest "Mooney" Warther Museum and Homestead
While staying at a campground in Horicon, WI, we met a gentleman from Missouri named Bob Unland, an accomplished archer. During the course of our conversations with Bob, he asked if we had been to the Amish settlements of Ohio. He proceeded to tell us about the area, because he had recently visited here. He told us about the beauty of the area, and also about a "master carver", who once lived and worked in the area - Dover, OH, to be exact. He had us spellbound as he told us about the magnificent carvings he had seen at the museum in Dover. We made a decision that night to make it a point to visit this area before going back to Massachusetts.
After another stop in Shipshewana, IN, to pick up a few items, we made our way into Ohio to visit this "phenominal exhibit" in Dover, OH. Another village he mentioned was the town of Berlin, OH. Berlin is known as "The Heart of Amish Country" in Ohio. We found a campground here in Berlin, so this is where we are staying until Friday morning. We did some scouting of the area after dinner on Wednesday evening. I have to pause here to tell you about the amazing food establishments here! We have frequented a few of them in the area, and their food is absolutely delicious!! As an example, dinner last night - I had pork chops (2), mashed potatoes and applesauce, while Kathy had a Grilled Chicken salad - our total bill came to less than $18.00!!! Plus, we shared an appetizer of "French Fried Mushrooms" - which were also delicious! Anyway, back to the main topic - the first photo album contains photos of our "scouting around" the area. One of the towns we visited during our scouting trip was Walnut Creek, OH.
Today we drove into Dover, OH, to visit the Warther Museum and homestead. On the way, we stopped for breakfast at the "Dutch Valley Restaurant" in Sugarcreek, OH, known as the "Switzerland of Ohio", a quaint little town where the buildings resemble a Swiss village. From here, we continued on to Dover, and the Museum. If you have never been to this town, Dover, OH, and if you've never heard of Ernest "Mooney" Warther, then you MUST put it on your "bucket list"! We learned so much about this phenomenal individual that I am not able to put it all in this post. I will, however, share some of the facts we learned while touring the Museum. At around age 9 or so, young Ernest, too young to work at the steel plant, became interested in whittling after seeing a gentleman whittle a pair of working pliers from a single piece of wood. As luck would have it, he found a pocket knife in the dirt while doing some chores. Thus began a career that would transform him from a "whittler" to a "carver", and to become renowned as the "world's greatest carver"! His "passion" was trains, steam locomotives, to be exact. I have posted lots of pictures of his work for you to understand how he came to be known as a "Master Carver". As you browse through these photographs, keep in mind that every one of these pieces was carved by hand. He had no lathes, sanding belts, etc., just simple carving tools, which he designed and made himself. Be sure to click on the link (above) to the Museum before you look at my photographs. There is a video on the web site that is well worth the 3-1/2 minutes it takes to watch.
Some of the facts we learned which truly "blew my mind": every time he would set out to carve one of his models, he would give the exact day that he would be finished. So accurate was he with these estimates that he only missed two times, and one was because he had attended a Christmas Party and he missed his predicted completion date by two days. You see, he knew that he could carve 1,000 "parts" per month, and he also knew, intuitively, how many "parts" each model would take to complete. Another amazing fact we learned, this one regarding the "pliers tree", is that it was carved out of a single piece of wood and yielded 31,000 "pliers". And each and every one of them worked!! He envisioned this masterpiece on his way home from the steel mill, and began working on it shortly after arriving home that evening. Another amazing fact about the "pliers tree" is that it will actually fold back into the single piece of wood he carved it from. There is a photo of the "pliers tree" in the album, so be sure to take a good, close look at it. These "pliers" he carved became his calling card, and he passed them out like cards. He was so good at carving these, that he could turn out a pair of working pliers in about 15 seconds, from a single piece of wood, without any "waste", i.e., no shavings! The fastest pair he ever carved took him 9.5 seconds, on the "Johnny Carson Show". Now, take that knowledge and imagine the "pliers tree", 31,000 pliers, with no waste, from a single piece of wood! Each "pair" of pliers is made by making no more than 10 "cuts" in the wood.
OK, now, I want you to remember that he could carve 1,000 pieces per month. As you look at the photos, when you come to the photo of his "favorite", the "Great Northern" engine # 2577, reverse the number (7752) and that is the exact number of "parts" he had to carve to complete this model! At 1,000 pieces per month, how long did it take him to complete it? Amazing, eh? Also, if we could have videotaped the models, you would see that almost every one of them actually "moved", i.e., the piston-driven arms and wheels actually turned, just like on the real trains!! Even if you are not "into" trains, you will be amazed at this collection, described by the Smithsonian Institution as "priceless treasures".
There is so much more to tell about this "master carver", but you will have to visit to get that information "first-hand". As you scroll through the photographs of his model train carvings, remember that Ernest "Mooney" Carver had only a 2nd Grade education, yet his works put him in the "genius" category! Truly one of the real "wonders" of this world. This is one place we will never forget!
Here are the photo albums:
Berlin, Ohio - The Heart of Amish Country
Breakfast at Dutch Valley Restaurant
Ernest "Mooney" Warther Museum and Homestead
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Indiana - Crossroads of America
Tuesday, August 16 - Shipshewana, IN
We're back in Indiana
for another visit to Shipshewana, an Amish community with great shops and restaurants, a huge flea market, and plenty of horse-driven buggies clip-clopping along the roadways. This visit marks the 3rd time we've been here this year. However, although we have lots of photos from the previous visits, I've not posted a blog to share them. Since I seem to have nothing better to do tonight (K's watching "America's Got Talent" and so I am not able to watch the Red Sox game), I decided to post.
As you know, we just left Wisconsin this morning, after spending the past two weeks in that state.
If you've never been to Wisconsin, it reminds me very much of Vermont, with lots of dairy farms and cheese factories. It also has mountains with ski resorts, but much further north from where we were. Driving along the highways and byways, you'll see lots of corn fields and soy bean fields. Those seem to be the main crops along the way. As we found out, the corn is actually feed corn for the dairy cows. The corn crops also provide corn oil and is also used in the production of ethanol. We did manage to find some corn for eating, and it was delicious!! They call it bi-color corn, while we call it butter and sugar corn. The state of Wisconsin is also home to some of the most beautiful lakes and rivers. If you get the chance to visit, DO NOT pass it up.
OK! Indiana. Got here this afternoon and got settled at the campground (Shipshewana South). After settling in, we made a trip to the local "bulk foods" store, E & S Sales, which is just down the road from the campground. This is a great store for purchasing local food products in bulk. We bought out every bag of pretzel sticks they had on the shelves. We have found that the price of the pretzel sticks here is as low as many other sources we have found, but people LOVE these sticks when we put them out! Since we stocked up on cheese up in Wisconsin, we did not purchase any here, although the cheeses here are also wonderful.
On a previous visit
to the area, we visited South Bend and the Tippecanoe Place restaurant, along with the Studebaker Museum and got lots of photographs at both places. In addition, we also visited the RV Motor Home Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart. Have lots of photos from there, as well.
Tippecanoe Place is the former Studebaker Mansion in South Bend. It was sold back in the 1970s, I believe, and has been through several incarnations. Finally, back in the 1990s it was purchased by the current owners and converted into a restaurant. Most of the rooms in the mansion have been converted to dining rooms, and, overall, the restoration of the mansion is fantastic. Be sure to take a good look at the photos of this magnificent structure.
The Studebaker museum houses
a collection of Studebaker wagons and automobiles dating back to the 1800s. These vehicles are magnificent, also! Unfortunately, Studebaker ran into labor problems which it refused to bow to, and, subsequently, went out of business somewhere in the 1960s, or so.
The RV Motor Home Hall
of Fame and Museum is located in East Elkhart, just off of the Interstate (I-80/90) on County Road 17. It contains vehicles used in camping dating back to the early 1900s and continuing up to the present day. We saw some very interesting "campers" on our visit.
On our most recent visit
to the area, last month (July), we got to do some walking around the city of Elkhart, Indiana. We had noticed, as we drove through the city, that there were various sculptures of elks scattered around the city. (Which makes perfect sense, since Elks are also called Harts, thus the name of the city!) We decided to do a walking tour to photograph as many of the sculptures as we could find. As we discovered, each of the sculptures had a different scheme/color pattern. We also found a sculpture of a marching band, which reminded us of days past when we followed the UMass Minuteman Marching Band. Please take the time to view these photos, as well. The elk sculptures will capture your imagination.
I'm glad I was finally able to put this post and the photographs together. I think you will enjoy seeing some of the things we saw, especially if you've never been to this area of our beautiful country!
Here are the photographs:
South Bend, IN
RV Motor Home Hall of Fame and Museum
Elkhart, IN
Wakarusa, IN
We're back in Indiana
for another visit to Shipshewana, an Amish community with great shops and restaurants, a huge flea market, and plenty of horse-driven buggies clip-clopping along the roadways. This visit marks the 3rd time we've been here this year. However, although we have lots of photos from the previous visits, I've not posted a blog to share them. Since I seem to have nothing better to do tonight (K's watching "America's Got Talent" and so I am not able to watch the Red Sox game), I decided to post.
As you know, we just left Wisconsin this morning, after spending the past two weeks in that state.
If you've never been to Wisconsin, it reminds me very much of Vermont, with lots of dairy farms and cheese factories. It also has mountains with ski resorts, but much further north from where we were. Driving along the highways and byways, you'll see lots of corn fields and soy bean fields. Those seem to be the main crops along the way. As we found out, the corn is actually feed corn for the dairy cows. The corn crops also provide corn oil and is also used in the production of ethanol. We did manage to find some corn for eating, and it was delicious!! They call it bi-color corn, while we call it butter and sugar corn. The state of Wisconsin is also home to some of the most beautiful lakes and rivers. If you get the chance to visit, DO NOT pass it up.
OK! Indiana. Got here this afternoon and got settled at the campground (Shipshewana South). After settling in, we made a trip to the local "bulk foods" store, E & S Sales, which is just down the road from the campground. This is a great store for purchasing local food products in bulk. We bought out every bag of pretzel sticks they had on the shelves. We have found that the price of the pretzel sticks here is as low as many other sources we have found, but people LOVE these sticks when we put them out! Since we stocked up on cheese up in Wisconsin, we did not purchase any here, although the cheeses here are also wonderful.
On a previous visit
to the area, we visited South Bend and the Tippecanoe Place restaurant, along with the Studebaker Museum and got lots of photographs at both places. In addition, we also visited the RV Motor Home Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart. Have lots of photos from there, as well.
Tippecanoe Place is the former Studebaker Mansion in South Bend. It was sold back in the 1970s, I believe, and has been through several incarnations. Finally, back in the 1990s it was purchased by the current owners and converted into a restaurant. Most of the rooms in the mansion have been converted to dining rooms, and, overall, the restoration of the mansion is fantastic. Be sure to take a good look at the photos of this magnificent structure.
The Studebaker museum houses
a collection of Studebaker wagons and automobiles dating back to the 1800s. These vehicles are magnificent, also! Unfortunately, Studebaker ran into labor problems which it refused to bow to, and, subsequently, went out of business somewhere in the 1960s, or so.
The RV Motor Home Hall
of Fame and Museum is located in East Elkhart, just off of the Interstate (I-80/90) on County Road 17. It contains vehicles used in camping dating back to the early 1900s and continuing up to the present day. We saw some very interesting "campers" on our visit.
On our most recent visit
to the area, last month (July), we got to do some walking around the city of Elkhart, Indiana. We had noticed, as we drove through the city, that there were various sculptures of elks scattered around the city. (Which makes perfect sense, since Elks are also called Harts, thus the name of the city!) We decided to do a walking tour to photograph as many of the sculptures as we could find. As we discovered, each of the sculptures had a different scheme/color pattern. We also found a sculpture of a marching band, which reminded us of days past when we followed the UMass Minuteman Marching Band. Please take the time to view these photos, as well. The elk sculptures will capture your imagination.
I'm glad I was finally able to put this post and the photographs together. I think you will enjoy seeing some of the things we saw, especially if you've never been to this area of our beautiful country!
Here are the photographs:
South Bend, IN
RV Motor Home Hall of Fame and Museum
Elkhart, IN
Wakarusa, IN
Monday, August 15, 2011
The Wisconsin Dells (Upper) Boat Tour, etc.
Monday, August 15 - Wisconsin Dells, WI
After working two RV Shows over the past couple of weeks here in Wisconsin, we decided to take a couple of days off before traveling east to Massachusetts. So, yesterday morning we left Madison and drove about 60 miles north to Wisconsin Dells. We've heard so much about this area of Wisconsin that we just could not leave without spending some time here. A big "thank you!" to Charlie and Kathy Burch for telling us about this beautiful area.
After arriving at our campground, Sherwood Forest Camping & RV Park, we set out to take a boat tour of the Upper Dells of the Wisconsin River. Fortunately, the campground provided us with a coupon for a 15% savings on the tickets! Be sure to check out our photographs of the boat tour. FYI: one of the things we learned on the boat tour - Wisconsin, the state, got its name from the river, and not the other way around. Also, the word "Wisconsin" comes from an Indian word meaning "land of dark waters"; the word "Dells" is derived from a French word meaning "pillars of stone". Thus, Wisconsin Dells translates to "land of dark waters with pillars of stone".
As we rode the shuttle bus from
the parking lot to the boat docks, we noticed that the downtown area is quite "touristy"! Lots of places for tourists to "drop some dough". I would compare this to a place like Myrtle Beach, SC, or any other tourist attraction. Lots of young people walking around and playing games in the video arcades; wild amusement rides, miniature golf - all the usual touristy things.
Since everything here seems so "touristy", we asked at the campground office about a good place to go for dinner where we wouldn't have to fight the crowds. The recommended "local" establishment for good food and drinks at reasonable prices was a Supper Club called Cimaroli's in Portage, WI, about 10 miles east of the Dells. This was a good take! Although it sounds like an Italian restaurant, which we thought it was, it was actually a Steak House! Their "house specialty" was a "Flat Iron Steak", which is actually prepared on a flat iron. It is then placed on a wooden slab and served piping hot. We had ours smothered in sauteed onions and mushrooms. I also sampled some of the "local suds", a very light ale called Spotted Cow. For an ale, this was quite light, almost a lager beer. I am bringing some of this home to Massachusetts, so, if you would like to try it, let me know.
Today we visited the
Carr Valley Cheese Company in Ironton, WI (Pop. 257). We had hoped to get there in time to see them making the cheese, but we arrived at about 9:55AM and they were cleaning up, the run for the day completed! We were told to get there by 10AM to see them making the cheese. So much for that! The cheese, however, is delicious. We think that Wisconsin Cheese actually has Vermont cheese beat, but it is real close!
We also visited the
International Crane Foundation Sanctuary in Baraboo, WI. There are quite a number of cranes in residence here, cranes from around the world. We got pictures of most of them, but I failed to caption a few of the photos (4). The ones without captions are of the African Blue Crane, quite a beautiful bird! Be sure to check out these photographs, as well as the photos of the boat tour.
Speaking of the photographs, here are the links:
Upper Dells Boat Tour photos
Cheese Factory and ICF Sanctuary photos
Tomorrow morning we will be starting our journey back east to Massachusetts. Our first stop will be in Shipshewana, IN, to pick up a few items. We should be in New York for a weekend visit with Mike, Lisa and Ava. We will be back in Massachusetts by late Monday, or Tuesday.
After working two RV Shows over the past couple of weeks here in Wisconsin, we decided to take a couple of days off before traveling east to Massachusetts. So, yesterday morning we left Madison and drove about 60 miles north to Wisconsin Dells. We've heard so much about this area of Wisconsin that we just could not leave without spending some time here. A big "thank you!" to Charlie and Kathy Burch for telling us about this beautiful area.
After arriving at our campground, Sherwood Forest Camping & RV Park, we set out to take a boat tour of the Upper Dells of the Wisconsin River. Fortunately, the campground provided us with a coupon for a 15% savings on the tickets! Be sure to check out our photographs of the boat tour. FYI: one of the things we learned on the boat tour - Wisconsin, the state, got its name from the river, and not the other way around. Also, the word "Wisconsin" comes from an Indian word meaning "land of dark waters"; the word "Dells" is derived from a French word meaning "pillars of stone". Thus, Wisconsin Dells translates to "land of dark waters with pillars of stone".
As we rode the shuttle bus from
the parking lot to the boat docks, we noticed that the downtown area is quite "touristy"! Lots of places for tourists to "drop some dough". I would compare this to a place like Myrtle Beach, SC, or any other tourist attraction. Lots of young people walking around and playing games in the video arcades; wild amusement rides, miniature golf - all the usual touristy things.
Since everything here seems so "touristy", we asked at the campground office about a good place to go for dinner where we wouldn't have to fight the crowds. The recommended "local" establishment for good food and drinks at reasonable prices was a Supper Club called Cimaroli's in Portage, WI, about 10 miles east of the Dells. This was a good take! Although it sounds like an Italian restaurant, which we thought it was, it was actually a Steak House! Their "house specialty" was a "Flat Iron Steak", which is actually prepared on a flat iron. It is then placed on a wooden slab and served piping hot. We had ours smothered in sauteed onions and mushrooms. I also sampled some of the "local suds", a very light ale called Spotted Cow. For an ale, this was quite light, almost a lager beer. I am bringing some of this home to Massachusetts, so, if you would like to try it, let me know.
Today we visited the
Carr Valley Cheese Company in Ironton, WI (Pop. 257). We had hoped to get there in time to see them making the cheese, but we arrived at about 9:55AM and they were cleaning up, the run for the day completed! We were told to get there by 10AM to see them making the cheese. So much for that! The cheese, however, is delicious. We think that Wisconsin Cheese actually has Vermont cheese beat, but it is real close!
We also visited the
International Crane Foundation Sanctuary in Baraboo, WI. There are quite a number of cranes in residence here, cranes from around the world. We got pictures of most of them, but I failed to caption a few of the photos (4). The ones without captions are of the African Blue Crane, quite a beautiful bird! Be sure to check out these photographs, as well as the photos of the boat tour.
Speaking of the photographs, here are the links:
Upper Dells Boat Tour photos
Cheese Factory and ICF Sanctuary photos
Tomorrow morning we will be starting our journey back east to Massachusetts. Our first stop will be in Shipshewana, IN, to pick up a few items. We should be in New York for a weekend visit with Mike, Lisa and Ava. We will be back in Massachusetts by late Monday, or Tuesday.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
This 'n That!
Tuesday, April 26 - Shepherdsville, KY
Anyone who has been following the weather lately knows how crazy severe it has been, especially in the south central US (AK, MS, AL, TN, MO, KY, IN, to mention a few)! We got a taste of it last night in Alabama. We were down in Red Bay, which is located in the northwest corner of Alabama, right along the Mississippi border. We awoke this morning to heavy rain and wind, but it ended shortly before 8AM, just in time for the Tiffin tech to come out to my coach and caulk the trim pieces he put on yesterday, just before repainting. After settling up with the cashier for my repairs and checking out of the campground, we were on our way. We hit the road at 10AM under gray skies, but no rain!
We are now here in Shepherdsville, KY, having made the trip without seeing any rain or wet roads. However, they are predicting nasty weather tonight, so we are battening down the hatches in anticipation. If all goes well tonight and tomorrow, weather-wise, we will be in Goshen, IN by tomorrow evening, where they are predicting (what else is new?) RAIN!
While sojourning down in Red Bay, we met some wonderful people. One couple we met and seemed to "hit it off" with, was Don and Lucy Wyse, from Maine. They were also having work done on their 2007 Phaeton coach. We found out that they are also "cribbage fanatics", as we are. Unfortunately, we did not get to play any games with them, as we did not have any time - we were having to move coaches from one bay to another for more repairs, etc. Since their home in Maine is not very far away, we are hoping to be able to continue our friendship once we get back to MA. Also, Wilson and Beasley got to meed Don and Lucy's dog, Bruno, a very docile Golden Retriever. After the initial "shock" of meeting a BIG dog, they both settled down and everyone got along very well.
Meeting folks like Don and Lucy is the reason why we love what we are doing. Hopefully, we will be able to do this for a few more years!
As I mentioned, above, we will arrive in Goshen, IN tomorrow, and we will be there until May 25th, when we will head into Michigan for our last show before heading east to Massachusetts. Our last show is over the Memorial Day weekend, and we will be back in MA sometime around June 2nd, or so.
In case anyone might be interested, we have found that, so far, the most expensive fuel has been in Florida. Alabama's average price for diesel fuel is right now hovering at about 3.97/gal. We did find fuel in the $3.80's, but we only saw that at one station, and we fueled up there! Tennessee has prices right about where Alabama's prices are, and, so far, Kentucky seems to be running just over $4.05/gallon.
Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, we will head north, again. Stay tuned for updates as we travel ever closer to MA.
Anyone who has been following the weather lately knows how crazy severe it has been, especially in the south central US (AK, MS, AL, TN, MO, KY, IN, to mention a few)! We got a taste of it last night in Alabama. We were down in Red Bay, which is located in the northwest corner of Alabama, right along the Mississippi border. We awoke this morning to heavy rain and wind, but it ended shortly before 8AM, just in time for the Tiffin tech to come out to my coach and caulk the trim pieces he put on yesterday, just before repainting. After settling up with the cashier for my repairs and checking out of the campground, we were on our way. We hit the road at 10AM under gray skies, but no rain!
We are now here in Shepherdsville, KY, having made the trip without seeing any rain or wet roads. However, they are predicting nasty weather tonight, so we are battening down the hatches in anticipation. If all goes well tonight and tomorrow, weather-wise, we will be in Goshen, IN by tomorrow evening, where they are predicting (what else is new?) RAIN!
While sojourning down in Red Bay, we met some wonderful people. One couple we met and seemed to "hit it off" with, was Don and Lucy Wyse, from Maine. They were also having work done on their 2007 Phaeton coach. We found out that they are also "cribbage fanatics", as we are. Unfortunately, we did not get to play any games with them, as we did not have any time - we were having to move coaches from one bay to another for more repairs, etc. Since their home in Maine is not very far away, we are hoping to be able to continue our friendship once we get back to MA. Also, Wilson and Beasley got to meed Don and Lucy's dog, Bruno, a very docile Golden Retriever. After the initial "shock" of meeting a BIG dog, they both settled down and everyone got along very well.
Meeting folks like Don and Lucy is the reason why we love what we are doing. Hopefully, we will be able to do this for a few more years!
As I mentioned, above, we will arrive in Goshen, IN tomorrow, and we will be there until May 25th, when we will head into Michigan for our last show before heading east to Massachusetts. Our last show is over the Memorial Day weekend, and we will be back in MA sometime around June 2nd, or so.
In case anyone might be interested, we have found that, so far, the most expensive fuel has been in Florida. Alabama's average price for diesel fuel is right now hovering at about 3.97/gal. We did find fuel in the $3.80's, but we only saw that at one station, and we fueled up there! Tennessee has prices right about where Alabama's prices are, and, so far, Kentucky seems to be running just over $4.05/gallon.
Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, we will head north, again. Stay tuned for updates as we travel ever closer to MA.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Survival of the Fittest (Fattest?)
Sunday, April 3 - Seffner (Tampa), FL
This will be a quick entry, just to let you see for yourselves how "life goes on" in the wild. At the end of this entry is a link to some fantastic photographs, which were taken in the pond behind a friends lot at The Great Outdoors in Titusville, FL.
Here, first, is the story: While sitting around having conversation one afternoon (not a soul was drinking!), someone spotted an alligator swimming by. Nothing unusual about this, except that he seemed to be quite large. One of the onlookers happened to have her camera, and was able to capture the photos that follow. The alligator, as it turned out, had another, smaller alligator in his mouth! As you will see in the photographs, the large alligator brought his "catch" onto the bank of the pond and attempted to kill/eat the smaller gator. You will see him splashing in the water as he shakes his prey in an attempt to kill it. Finally, you will see him swim away with the prey still in his jaws! Nobody is sure, but the larger alligator seems to measure about 12 - 13 feet in length, while his "prey" was about 5 - 7 feet long!
ALLIGATOR FACT: Alligators eat only about 35 pounds of "food" per year!
Click the link to see the photographs (courtesy of Trish Davis).
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=trishd222&target=ALBUM&id=5591086184081444129&authkey=Gv1sRgCJrC4Ovag8XomQE&feat=email
This will be a quick entry, just to let you see for yourselves how "life goes on" in the wild. At the end of this entry is a link to some fantastic photographs, which were taken in the pond behind a friends lot at The Great Outdoors in Titusville, FL.
Here, first, is the story: While sitting around having conversation one afternoon (not a soul was drinking!), someone spotted an alligator swimming by. Nothing unusual about this, except that he seemed to be quite large. One of the onlookers happened to have her camera, and was able to capture the photos that follow. The alligator, as it turned out, had another, smaller alligator in his mouth! As you will see in the photographs, the large alligator brought his "catch" onto the bank of the pond and attempted to kill/eat the smaller gator. You will see him splashing in the water as he shakes his prey in an attempt to kill it. Finally, you will see him swim away with the prey still in his jaws! Nobody is sure, but the larger alligator seems to measure about 12 - 13 feet in length, while his "prey" was about 5 - 7 feet long!
ALLIGATOR FACT: Alligators eat only about 35 pounds of "food" per year!
Click the link to see the photographs (courtesy of Trish Davis).
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=trishd222&target=ALBUM&id=5591086184081444129&authkey=Gv1sRgCJrC4Ovag8XomQE&feat=email
Monday, January 10, 2011
Potpourri
Tampa Florida State Fairgrounds - January 10, 2011
Since it has been approximatly 9 - 10 weeks since my last entry, I thought I would bring you all up-to-date on what we have been doing since November 4th.
At that time, we had visited San Antonio, TX, and were headed back to Florida for an RV show on Nov. 11. Nothing memorable happened during the trip to Florida. We arrived in Titusville on Sunday, Nov. 7 and relaxed for a couple of days before traveling over to Tampa for the show. The show itself was OK, but not as good as last year, prompting us to consider going west next winter to work a few shows out in California and Arizona.
We returned to Massachusetts for the Thanksgiving holiday and stayed through Christmas. It was good to get home to see family, which is what we truly do miss when we travel. The weather cooperated, for the most part. It was cold and dry, but at least the snow and nasty New England weather held off until just before we were ready to head back to Florida. We were "blessed" with a Nor'easter on Sunday, the 26th of December, which lasted until mid-afternoon on Monday. Needless to say, I had to help out with the shoveling, even though the driveway had been plowed twice during the storm.
As I said, above, it was good to see family again. We got to see just about everyone while we were home, since Chris and Jen decided to host Christmas Eve in Hamilton. The party was a big hit, especially with the little ones, who actually got to see Santa!! I guess the highlight of our stay at home would have to be seeing our grandchildren. Aaron was such a joy to spend time with. He is so grown up at 7 years old! He is very smart, and so interesting to talk with, especially when it comes to talking about things he knows lots about, like Star Wars and Dinosaurs! We played lots of games, and we even got to play a game that Aaron designed by himself! In addition, we did get to see a lot of Ava. Mike and Lisa arrived on Thursday before Christmas and stayed until Christmas Eve, so we got lots of opportunity to spend time with "Miss Ava". She is such a doll. She loves people and attention. The way she gets about, we swore she would be walking before they left. That didn't happen, but, yesterday, Sunday, January 9th, 2011, Ava took her first steps on her own! Imagine that, 13 months and 2 days after her birth, she's walking!!! Way to go, Ava!!
We began our trip south on Tuesday, December 28th, at about 7AM. Chris, Jen and Aaron also left at the same time, as they were flying to DC to spend some time with Jen's dad, Fran and his wife, Marcy. Our travel plan was to get to Richmond, VA, by Tuesday evening. However, due to the traffic in CT, NY and NJ, we only got as far as Aberdeen, MD, leaving us a loooooong way to go! The rest of the trip was basically uneventful, and the weather really was beautiful, so we can't blame the traffic on that. Truth be told, the traffic was probably mostly due to people traveling to the various Bowl games taking place that week. Every year, we say the same thing - "Never again!", but every year, there we are, stuck in the same traffic jams as last year, and cursing, saying "Never again!", again!
We arrived in Port St. Lucie on Thursday, Dec. 30, at about noon. I spent the rest of the afternoon (after unpacking the car) at the DMV, renewing my auto registration, then at the Honda dealership having the oil changed. It was about 5PM when I got back to the park. Speaking of the park, we could not believe how devastated it looks, after the frosts and cold weather in December (coldest December on record). Many of the trees and plants were brown; some were ruined and will have to be replaced. Our main purpose in returning to PSL, other than the fact that the motorhome was parked there, was to spread new mulch in the plant/hedge beds. However, considering the condition of these beds, we decided it would be foolish to mulch. We spent Friday running errands, then had a quiet dinner in the coach, and celebrated New Years Eve quietly relaxing. On Saturday, we packed up and headed north to Titusville, where we will be spending the next three months, or so, before heading north, again.
We are now in Tampa, awaiting the start of the RV Super Show here, which runs through next Sunday. From here, we head south to Ft. Myers for another show, then we will take a week off before our first show in February, in Brooksville, FL. This will be a busy week for us. We will probably be out with friends every night while we are here, since we haven't seen some of them for some time. Also, our RVing friends, the Burchs, the Borsettis and the Desmets will probably be here at the show at some point, so we will be spending an evening with them, as well. Fun, fun, fun!! To add to the fun, we have been following the weather, and it looks like the northeast will be "blessed" with another storm Tuesday into Wednesday, dumping a foot or more of snow! And here we sit, in shorts and T's, enjoying the 70 degree days and 60 degree nights!! Rage on, winter!
Until next time, stay safe and healthy!
Since it has been approximatly 9 - 10 weeks since my last entry, I thought I would bring you all up-to-date on what we have been doing since November 4th.
At that time, we had visited San Antonio, TX, and were headed back to Florida for an RV show on Nov. 11. Nothing memorable happened during the trip to Florida. We arrived in Titusville on Sunday, Nov. 7 and relaxed for a couple of days before traveling over to Tampa for the show. The show itself was OK, but not as good as last year, prompting us to consider going west next winter to work a few shows out in California and Arizona.
We returned to Massachusetts for the Thanksgiving holiday and stayed through Christmas. It was good to get home to see family, which is what we truly do miss when we travel. The weather cooperated, for the most part. It was cold and dry, but at least the snow and nasty New England weather held off until just before we were ready to head back to Florida. We were "blessed" with a Nor'easter on Sunday, the 26th of December, which lasted until mid-afternoon on Monday. Needless to say, I had to help out with the shoveling, even though the driveway had been plowed twice during the storm.
As I said, above, it was good to see family again. We got to see just about everyone while we were home, since Chris and Jen decided to host Christmas Eve in Hamilton. The party was a big hit, especially with the little ones, who actually got to see Santa!! I guess the highlight of our stay at home would have to be seeing our grandchildren. Aaron was such a joy to spend time with. He is so grown up at 7 years old! He is very smart, and so interesting to talk with, especially when it comes to talking about things he knows lots about, like Star Wars and Dinosaurs! We played lots of games, and we even got to play a game that Aaron designed by himself! In addition, we did get to see a lot of Ava. Mike and Lisa arrived on Thursday before Christmas and stayed until Christmas Eve, so we got lots of opportunity to spend time with "Miss Ava". She is such a doll. She loves people and attention. The way she gets about, we swore she would be walking before they left. That didn't happen, but, yesterday, Sunday, January 9th, 2011, Ava took her first steps on her own! Imagine that, 13 months and 2 days after her birth, she's walking!!! Way to go, Ava!!
We began our trip south on Tuesday, December 28th, at about 7AM. Chris, Jen and Aaron also left at the same time, as they were flying to DC to spend some time with Jen's dad, Fran and his wife, Marcy. Our travel plan was to get to Richmond, VA, by Tuesday evening. However, due to the traffic in CT, NY and NJ, we only got as far as Aberdeen, MD, leaving us a loooooong way to go! The rest of the trip was basically uneventful, and the weather really was beautiful, so we can't blame the traffic on that. Truth be told, the traffic was probably mostly due to people traveling to the various Bowl games taking place that week. Every year, we say the same thing - "Never again!", but every year, there we are, stuck in the same traffic jams as last year, and cursing, saying "Never again!", again!
We arrived in Port St. Lucie on Thursday, Dec. 30, at about noon. I spent the rest of the afternoon (after unpacking the car) at the DMV, renewing my auto registration, then at the Honda dealership having the oil changed. It was about 5PM when I got back to the park. Speaking of the park, we could not believe how devastated it looks, after the frosts and cold weather in December (coldest December on record). Many of the trees and plants were brown; some were ruined and will have to be replaced. Our main purpose in returning to PSL, other than the fact that the motorhome was parked there, was to spread new mulch in the plant/hedge beds. However, considering the condition of these beds, we decided it would be foolish to mulch. We spent Friday running errands, then had a quiet dinner in the coach, and celebrated New Years Eve quietly relaxing. On Saturday, we packed up and headed north to Titusville, where we will be spending the next three months, or so, before heading north, again.
We are now in Tampa, awaiting the start of the RV Super Show here, which runs through next Sunday. From here, we head south to Ft. Myers for another show, then we will take a week off before our first show in February, in Brooksville, FL. This will be a busy week for us. We will probably be out with friends every night while we are here, since we haven't seen some of them for some time. Also, our RVing friends, the Burchs, the Borsettis and the Desmets will probably be here at the show at some point, so we will be spending an evening with them, as well. Fun, fun, fun!! To add to the fun, we have been following the weather, and it looks like the northeast will be "blessed" with another storm Tuesday into Wednesday, dumping a foot or more of snow! And here we sit, in shorts and T's, enjoying the 70 degree days and 60 degree nights!! Rage on, winter!
Until next time, stay safe and healthy!
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