Galena Illinois is one of my all time favorite towns. These pictures were taken in October 2009 which was our third visit to the city. Beside having an absolutely beautiful downtown area it was also the home of President Ulysses S. Grant. Continue reading Galena IL
I seem to spend quite a bit of my retirement time tending my yard and garden. At least in the warm weather months that is. Don’t get me wrong; I am by no means a perfectionist who manicures his lawn with tweezers. The opposite is more realistic for me. But I do enjoy this type of work providing the weather cooperates. I live in a very rural area about a mile north of a small town. The big city perfectly manicured lawns are a rarity in this neck of the woods. But since I do have about two … Continue reading Yard and Garden (and Tomatoes)…
I know some people go through life without any pets. We had some neighbors across the street from us once who I deemed as “neat freaks” . Their house was always so immaculate. They would never have considered pets as they were just dirty little creatures who pooped and otherwise contaminated people’s lives. I always felt sorry for their son who had to grow up without pets in his life. He is grown now and I often wonder is he is also a neat freak. Often times the children turn out to be the opposite of their parents in that … Continue reading A Life Without Pets??
My wife and I have always had pets around our homes. I can’t imagine life without them. So, I have put together this collage of some of our furry, and not so furry, friends. No, we don’t actually have any pet cows but I think if Yvonne could have figured out how to get one in our trunk we would have! :) Continue reading The Pets of my Life…
As I mentioned before my wife and I were not fortunate enough to have had any children. But maybe the post will accidentally fall into the hands of some of you who can learn from one of my life’s lessons. One of the things that I found strikingly odd when I was growing up was that our parents would take me and my two brothers to church almost every Sunday and drop us off. They would then go back home and do whatever it was they did. I always wondered why church was necessary for us but not for them. … Continue reading Don’t Do as I Do…But
The Des Moines Botanical Center is not one of the largest we have visited but it probably one of the best maintained (both inside and out). Date Visited June 2010 Continue reading Des Moines Botanical Center – Des Moines, IA
When I went deaf in 1988 there was no way for me to communicate with my wife or others once I left the house. Even at home calling others was almost impossible. I had a device called a TTY but the person I called also had to have one to communicate with me. They cost about $500 and could only be used with deaf people so they were far and few between. I could use a thing called the Deaf Relay service. How that worked was that I would call a special operator with my TTY and they would call … Continue reading Text Messaging is the Way For Me…..
These pictures of the Iowa Historical Museum, that is in front of the Capital Building, were also taken during our June 2010 trip. Besides the Iowa political primaries section of the museum one of my favorite things was the skyscraper made from Leggo blocks that was in the lobby. Continue reading Iowa Historical Museum – Des Moines, IA
Here are some pictures from inside the Des Moines Capital building. I particularly like the library with the spiral staircase. As usual click on any photo below to see a larger image. Continue reading Inside the Capital Building – Des Moines, IA
My wife Yvonne and I did not get married until we were both over forty years old. This was the first marriage for both of us. We have been married almost twenty five years now. Although we had been working in the same building together for more than fifteen years our paths just never crossed. It was a very big building! Yvonne said if we had only met when we were young we would have had six kids and many grandkids by now!! It does sadden me that she wanted so many children and ended up having none. Sometimes I … Continue reading My Hubby of Nearly 25 Years….
Let’s stay in Des Moines for a few more posts. Here are some pictures of the outside of the Capital building. It is one of the most beautiful capitals we have visited in the U.S. But, we did get there at the peak flower time. Whenever we visit a State we always try to manage a visit to the Capital. Continue reading Capital Building – Des Moines, IA
I like most people I guess, seem to go through my life concentrating mainly on the giant leaps. Getting my driver’s license, my first legal drink, the first job, getting married, retiring, etc, etc. These always seem to be things I am waiting for. But I have come to realize that by far most of life is the little steps. Those things we choose to do day in and day out are mainly what defines the quality of our lives. This is a difficult lesson for me to learn even in my retirement years. I by no means have … Continue reading Life is Mainly Little Steps…
We visited here in June of this year. They have, in addition to the town in the pictures, several different farms set representing different Iowa farming eras. as usual click on a thumb nail below to see a full size version Continue reading Living History Farms – Des Moines IA
I must admit that I am a U.S. history nut. In my life I have read several hundred books on the subject. Being non-violent at my core this list does not include many books on our wars but instead I focused on the people of the times. Except for the Revolutionary War which is necessary to understand the foundations of our society, I pretty much avoid the subject of war. Some of the most fascinating reading were of the trapper’s journals in the Rocky Mountains. Part of that love of history includes going to many historical sites. My wife and … Continue reading Bent’s Old Fort – One of My Favorite Historical Sites
I thought I would show you a picture of the other member of our family. As shown in this January 2009 photo she just loves the snow. Continue reading My Dog Beulah
I graduated from Purdue University in 1970 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. I was the first one in either Mom or Dad’s family that had graduated from college. Because Dad was a milk man and Mom had abandoned him with two young boys ten years before I had to work my way through college. But that is another story. When I graduated I interviewed about six companies for employment. They varied from telecommunications to NASA to a car manufacturer. With my trusty bamboo slide rule in hand I chose the telecommunications company. College degrees today are not anything like … Continue reading Career opportunities then and now..
Let’s start out with a picture of me and my wife in 1999. We lived in New Jersey then and made rather frequent trips to NYC. This picture was taken on Ellis Island. Notice the World Trade Center in the background. Continue reading Me and the Hubby – 1999
I am doing something here that I have not done on any of the other blogs I have created. I am going to come up front with the fact that I am deaf. Being deaf is a major part of my daily experiences but it is not who I am. It is just one of those obstacles that sometimes get in the way of having the full life experiences I desire. I have many stories to relay to you about being deaf but they will wait for a later posts. There is also a lot of very different statistics about … Continue reading * I am deaf….
One of the biggest walls I faced as I entered retirement was what am I going to spend my time on now that I seem to have so much! Suddenly not going into my usual eleven hour a day job in the corporate world was traumatizing indeed. I spent a lot of time flopping around like a fish suddenly pulled out of the pond. It took me some time to finally get the nerve up to try some community service activity. I was somewhat apprehensive as I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Like usual I procrastinated … Continue reading Community Service…
I was eight years old when I gave my best friend a black eye over some dispute that I can’t even remember. Immediately after that incident I was totally devastated over the violence I had done. I promised myself that I would never strike or injure another person in that manner. I have lived up to that promise in the fifty odd years since then. Along these same lines I have always felt that the various wars we have been involved in were totally against God’s will. The Quaker belief that God is in each of us and therefore if … Continue reading Nonviolence
One thing I haven’t mentioned yet about this blog is that it will be much about retirement living. Yeah, I know you are saying “You are in retirement and still don’t know what you want to do when you grow up?” Well, that is just who I am I guess! I retired, or I could say I was retired, from the corporate world ten years ago by a down sizing. I think the Hong Kong company that bought our corporate division just wanted to get rid of all the higher paid old people and I was included in that group. … Continue reading Retirement Living…
RJ's Corner - Having My Say 