Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Crazy year - What a long, strange trip it's been.

Last August, we set out on the road for the East coast. That was fun, we spent time in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. We drove back to North Dakota to welcome our third grandchild into the world in December then headed west to California.

While in Cali, we took a break and flew to DC for TAPS. When we finally left California, we drove a new route that took us down highway 66 and sopped at the Grand Canyon. new sights for us and lots of fun.

You don't need a weatherman to know.....

The weather here since we got back has been very disappointing. a couple of days were great, but since then, it's been all rain, wind, and cold. The expected high today, July 1st is 55 degrees. Really? the winds have been well over 25 mph and raining on and off for days.

The farmers are in a bad way since the fields are being flooded. There is a lot of concern in the Devils lake basin because entire farms are going under acres at a time.

I can't work on the yard which had become overgrown since we were gone, can't do repairs and general upkeep on the house in the rain. Hopefully, this will begin to settle down before it's time for us to leave again.

Just sayin'...

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

We reserve the right to serve refuse to anyone.

There was a discussion on facebook about a few laws in Kansas and Arizona that concern who a business has the right to serve and not serve.

I wrote this:

If a businessman doesn't want to serve someone, they have that right in a free market. They are free to lose potential business for their decisions. For the offended party, they have a right to publicly protest or advertise against the businessman. The Government cannot pass laws to force someone to serve someone else. It has no right to control that or even personal morality. Death threats and violence should be treated as the illegal acts they are with no bearing on why the perpetrators thought they could act that way. A school can't decide not to teach a group of people though they can control conduct on school grounds. An individual teacher must perform according to the employment contract or they are free to seek employment elsewhere. Currently, our Government is only interested in granting crony benefits to vocal groups that support the progressive agenda.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Baseball been berry berry good to me.

"Put me in coach, I'm ready to play." - Centerfield by John Fogerty. Spring is almost here. The boys of summer are in spring training and this Thursday, our stalwart Padres begin playing preseason against the Seattle Mariners.

I'm beginning to get excited.

Why don't they love us?

I sit here and watch the administration spend money hand over fist on illegals and liberal causes while hollowing out the military. We have less than 600,000 military personnel. That's less than the population of North Dakota. Does anyone think we could ever protect this country from an attack? Hell, if they give a fraction of the people in China guns they could overrun this country without training just from sheer numbers. This is something we should have learned from the Korean War.

The President hates our country as any leftist hates any democracy. The slim hope of saving grace we have left is the people's expectations that they still have power. Consider is we were Czarist Russia. The Marxists there just moved in and fired up the population against the Czars and the Jews.

Still, they are in control and the RINOs hide their heads and balls on the sand like it's just business as usual.

Recommendations:
Liberals, you need to wake up and realize the true outcome of these actions will be. It's not the one-world utopia you imagine.

Conservatives: the Washing crowd of Boener and the establishment republicans are not going to save anything. Know who you vote into office.

And those of you who say you don't care about politics or think you know something because you watch CNN or MSNBC. you'd better spend some time learning the concepts this country was founded on and what the ideology o the left is really all about.

It's go time.

Monday, February 10, 2014

High Tech vs. Human resources

I'm trying to get my W-2s for last year. I worked at one company at the beginning of the year, and another near the end. Both are not where I can just drive down and ask for them. Calling the units, I get voice mail continuously. Going online the websites lead you in an endless loop of employment opportunities and community outreach. HR does not exist. What I had to do was search google for the companies corporate offices, and through the switchboard (press "1" for English) was able to leave messages for them to please contact me.

In this age of electronics and infinite social media, it seems that no one in business is ever near a phone to take a call, or so overwhelmed putting out fires, that they can't answer it anyway.

It just seems odd.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Build This!

So, I’m thinking about something I posted once about Elizabeth Warren who mirrored Obama’s statements about how, if you are successful in this country “you didn’t build it.” I basically said that the people who built the roads and such got paid for their labors so someone who builds a great business along one of those roads, does not owe them any more money. Not to mention the roads and towns and even the railroads were not originally built by government, but by citizens and business people.

This led me to thinking about the Utopian paradise the Progressives are trying to transform our country into. It’s not like they went into a third world country where there is no rule of law, no civil society, or even a truly functioning government. These people take the most free, the most generous, and most prosperous land of opportunity in the history of mankind, and try to “fundamentally transform” it into their dream society.

If they ever succeed in destroying the Constitution based system we have, the result will not be what they dream it will be and I’d have to say “They didn’t build it”. They had to start with a functioning, prosperous society to fuel their efforts.

I’m reminded of a joke where some scientists call on God and tell him they have become just like God. “we can make a man from a handful of clay” they tell God. He says, “Show me”. One scientist bends down and grabs a handful of dirt, and God says, “Hold it. Get your own dirt.”

Progressives: Get your own country.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Super Bowl XLVIII


43 - 8

I had no dogs in the fight. However, I do have a dislike for two of the rival teams in the AFC West, one of them being Denver. I have a personal opinion that Payton Manning is a great athelete as well as a great human being. However, I think he's a bit full of himself and is overrated by the press. Especially since his younger brother is constantly being portrayed as the lesser of the two brothers despite Eli's earning more Super Bowl wins than his brother.

I had to Google the Seahawks to find the name Russell Wilson to know who their quarterback was. See, I didn't really follow the year that much and normally only watch the progress of a couple of teams. Seattle is not one of them. Still, with my attitude towards Denver, I only wanted two things from the game. I wanted Denver to lose, and I wanted to watch a good competition. I got the win I wanted, but the game itself was a complete disappointment due to the complete failure of the Denver teams to show any of the fire they exhibited all year. If you are going to beat out every other team in the AFC to get to the Super Bowl, you'd better play like you want to win it.

Totally blown out in the first half, I had hopes of the Broncos coming out for the second half adjusted and ready to make a show of it, but they didn't.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

State of the Union Adress. January 28, 2014

Just before Mark Levin comes on and tells me what he thinks of the speech last night, I thought I'd state my opinion for the record.
I only listened to a small bit of it, but what I heard was the President blame the rich for the poor. The successful for being
irresponsible, and that Global Climate Change is a fact. The President stated that they have cut the deficit in half which is hardly possible, and took credit for increased oil production in America even though it has been in the private sector. He continues to claim victory over unemployment and the recession.

The President also continues to states that he will continue to overreach his office and create changes in our society even if he can't get congress to agree. He speaks of putting more money into schooling ever younger children but doesn't address the failure in the quality of the education system.

Lies, misrepresentations, threats and ever expanding power grabbing.


Thursday, January 9, 2014

California

It was finally time. We had spent our last time for a while with Eliza and her kiddies, and it was time to head out to California. There had been a bad storm the day or so before, and though the roads were clear, there were still a few cars in the ditches along the highway as a result. There was one semi off the right side of the road facing the wrong way. I would not have wanted to be the driver who managed to spin a semi 180 degrees. At least it didn't tip.

We reached Montana near the end of the first day. Just a little too late to eat we thought, but we got a room in Billings and there was a nearby pizza place that took an hour to deliver a mediocre pizza to us. Apparently the storm that dropped grainy snow on us in North Dakota, dropped heavier wet stuff on Billings. The roads had been plowed enough to drive on, but there was still a lot of snow to drive through. I'm glad we have a jeep instead of the low slung Prius we had before. We got up in the morning and had breakfast at the little diner next door and got on our way.

I-94 had turned to I-90 and we followed it towards Idaho. Our Garmin wanted us to change to a couple of smaller state and federal highways to save us an hour or so, but considering the weather and the terrain (as we were in Yellowstone country), I opted to just stay on I-90 until it met I-15. As we made the turn onto I-15, it began to become noticeably warmer. At some point, we noticed the temperature at 27 degrees. Up 54 degrees from the -27 it had been in North Dakota. I had needed a break from driving and we pulled off at an exit that said there were no services. I just needed to stretch, so it was okay. There was a remnant of a town with some broken down buildings, a parked highway snowplow, and signs that someone still lived here. Add in the "No Trespassing" signs, and it was a little creepy. I would have loved to take some pictures.

We continued on into Utah. Laurie said she didn't want to drive past eight o'clock, but was hoping to get through Salt Lake City. We did that, stopping in Provo for the night. The La Quinta there was great and we ate at the hotel restaurant which had a steak house theme. A good night's sleep and a small breakfast in the hotel lobby, we packed and left. It had started to snow, and the plows were just starting their work. What worked for us, was that we had gone through (thanks to Laurie) the heavily populated section of Utah, so the traffic was getting heavy mostly going the other direction. There had been a lot of construction on highway 15 two years ago when we had been through here, and it was completed now. The road was very good to drive on. As we travelled south, the weather just kept getting better.

Just before you get to Nevada, the highway cuts across about 50 miles of Arizona. This is the Virgin River Gorge. I don't think you can get to it any other way but I-15. I've always loved this part of the trip. High cliffs and steep drop offs into the river as the highway snakes along. We stopped at one of the only places you can, and I got out and walked around and took a bunch of pictures of an area you can't really see from the road.

In to Nevada where there is absolutely nothing until you reach the Las Vegas area. As we approached, everything for miles was clear except this haze of smog that hung over Sin City. We stayed on the freeway and went around the city. There was a lot of construction on the highway. The are doing some nice work with animal statues and artful walls and such Made the drive nice. At one point, there was a concrete divider next to an onramp, and some kids was sitting there with his back pack on the ground strumming his guitar. Then more desert until you reach Primm on the southern border.

With much joy, we crossed the border into California. ("Follow along in your books as we learn the next three words in Turkish. Bath, Towel, Border. May I see your passport, please") We stopped at the "Now entering" sign and took pictures as though we were tourists. ha ha. I noticed as you drive along, the Nevada desert is all scrub brush, but when you cross into California, there are suddenly all these cactus plants that are 4 to 7 feet tall. Maybe they aren't allowed in Nevada? Just south of that border in the distance we saw fields of while on the ground and towers in the middle. I realized the fields of while were solar mirrors and the structures were collecting towers. I was reminded of the movie "Sahara" which is why I figured out what they were. Then I saw all the transmission lines running from the place.

California is California and we were too excited to stop until we got home. We took the 215 branch off I-15 and it was not only shorter, but it cut out the canyon drive I'm used to between Riverside and San Diego counties.

Finally. we are home in SoCal. It is warm, and it is good.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Jericho

Just because we had so much going on at the time, Jericho was one series we missed seeing. It was only 30 episodes and 23 of them was the first season. Since we don't have cable right now, we've been using our Roku and watching things we missed. We really enjoyed the series. I'm sorry it's gone, but that's the mark of a good endeavor. I understand they continued it in comic form, and there's talk of either a film or another season.

I think the reason it didn't do so well, is that it was a bit too advanced for it's time. How often has tha happened? I can think of two other series that had the same problem. Firefly and Star Trek. Why else would shows such as Fringe and Lost do so well while equally great shows don't?

I guess timing is everything and it takes a Lost or X-Files to pave the way.

New Year

Well, here we are in a new year. It's been a busy season. My daughter had a beautiful 22lb boy on the 18th. Little Corbin didn't want to leave the hospital for a few days, so my daughter stayed with him. Everybody is at home now and doing well. We all had our Christmas celebration at Eliza and Dustins. Laurie worked Christmas and New Years, but it makes it so she doesn't have to next year.

Looking forward to our impending trip to the west coast. Laurie is still trying to lock down an assignment there.

Weather had been really cold. Today it warmed up and that brought on freezing rain. A bad day to be all the way out in Grand Forks. We went to see "Saving Mr. Banks" We really enjoyed it. Now I have to go start the drudgery of packing.