Let’s close out the month with a quote by one of my heroes, Woodrow Wilson. If you want to make enemies, try to change something. Woodrow Wilson Change, even though it is coming at such a fast pace in the twenty-first century makes just as many enemies today as it did one hundred years ago when Wilson made this comment. Continue reading Closing Out the Month with Woodrow….
Source: Leaders of deficit panel say public’s confidence at stake – USATODAY.com. Since this is an optimistic post and I am short of optimism lately it will be a short one. In these times of total political gridlock it is nice to see at least some conciliatory words from the members of the “super committee”. These are the members of congress who have been assigned to come up with a plan … Continue reading "Plays Well With Others"….. maybe??
In honor of my fellow blogger, Bob Lowry over at Satisfying Retirement, who is visiting the island this week I wanted to bring up a picture of my bride taken on our honeymoon there in 1986. We haven’t been back since but I expect that Bob will see a much different island than we did. Have a good time buddy…. Continue reading Maui Hawaii – 1986
Source: Post office turns to small-town mini-mart for savings – USATODAY.com. There is an old saying “What goes around comes around” and that seems to apply to the much beleaguered Post Office. According to the above article they are starting to move small town post offices out of their specialized government owned building and back into local retail establishments. I am old enough to remember that when I lived in a … Continue reading What goes around…(The Post Office)
This is probably one of the most famous barns in America. Continue reading Hancock Shaker Village – 1998
The average consumer carries over $16,000 in credit card debt. And there is usually a mortgage and probably a car loan in the pile too. They say the total personal debt of U.S. consumers is over $11 trillion. Unfortunately many of those are middle aged and moving into their retirement years. With all this debt they are obviously not putting away much for their later … Continue reading Living Debt Free….
Going back a way in my portfolio to pull out this picture of the Duck Pond in Central Park NYC. It was taken during our last visit there before moving back to Indiana in 2000. Continue reading Central Park NYC – Duck Pond 1999
This picture is obviously a digitized one of a picture I took almost forty years ago. This was a newly erected office park on the north side of the city. Continue reading Indianapolis – Pyramids 1973
Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough. Abraham Lincoln The advice in this quote is needed more today than it was even in Lincoln’s time. Most of the people in Congress are, as Lincoln himself was, lawyers by trade. A few posts … Continue reading Quotes — The Wisdom of Lincoln…
This is the second of two posts about my experiences with recently joining the Medicare System. The first post gave you the types of plans that are offered to those who turn 65. There are a number of decisions that have to be made during this enrollment process. I have to warn you up front that this is really pretty boring stuff. I put it … Continue reading Medicare Here I Come … (Part 2)
I will soon move onto the Medicare roles. It has been quite a journey to get here so that is what this and the following post will be about. I hope the post might help some of you out there who will be going through the same thing in the coming months or years. I want to make it very clear that I am not … Continue reading Medicare Here I Come…. (Part 1)
Here is another picture of Pleasant Hill Shaker Village near Lexington KY. The fall colors are absolutely beautiful there. Continue reading Pleasant Hill Village – Lexington KY October 2005
O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth’s treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss of … Continue reading Getting Beyond Ourselves….
The short memories of American voters is what keeps our politicians in office. -April 7, 1930 Will Rogers Continue reading Will Rogers – My Hero….
This picture has meaning beyond its reality. I have been pondering the road ahead probably too much lately. In today’s environment that can indeed be very depressing. When I came across this picture of the beautiful sky at the end of the road it made me think of a possible silver lining in the days ahead. If all of us would just stop and think beyond … Continue reading The Road Ahead….
This is one of my favorite places to visit and it is only a four hour drive. I haven’t been there lately so I will have to visit again soon. Continue reading Pleasant Hill Shaker Village – April 2003
This picture kind of fits my mood lately. A little weary; a little aged. Continue reading These Old Barns – Wisconsin – 2010
None of them from any party are going to purposely ruin the country. They will all do the best they can. -July 8, 1928 Will Rogers If I had run across this quote ten or maybe even five years ago I would have undoubtedly agreed that it applies to our times. But given what has occurred since then I am just not so sure anymore. There just seems … Continue reading Where Are You When We Need You??
I started out my adult life as a Republican who voted for Richard Nixon in 1972 but after Reagan became president in 1980 I was pushed into the Democrat party by all his radical and anti-people policies. Things like “trickle down” and “cutting taxes to increase taxes” just made no sense to me and ended up being total nonsense in its practice. He was probably … Continue reading I Just Don't Belong….
Let me start of by saying that I am by no means an investment professional but that doesn’t keep me from having an opinion. And I will also admit that looking backwards is a lot easier than looking forwards, especially in money matters. That being said there is something to saving for retirement the old fashioned way and that is to save the money while you are … Continue reading Do Retirement Savings the Old Fashioned Way…
Since I am now pretty much boycotting things political, except to poke fun at them, I did not see the recent Republican presidential debates but I did read a few on-line articles about it. There are a couple of things that got my attention. The first thing is how so many of the candidates proudly boasted that they created jobs in their States. This goes back to … Continue reading For the Common Good……
Source: Many U.S. schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks – USATODAY.com. I am a techie at heart; always have been. So it did my heart good to see this article about how many schools are now moving away from hard bound books to electronic versions. It is about time we moved into the twenty first century in some of our educational processes. From the personal interactions in the … Continue reading Many U.S. schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks
I recently read a post by a fellow blogger Bill Birnbaum about being knowledgeable on the topic of music among other things. His post got me to thinking about how I seem to be less interested in maintaining or increasing my knowledge of the world around me lately. I am a person who never got out of the habit of asking “Why?” I do continue to do … Continue reading Knowledge Is a Good Thing, But….
Source: How to Beat Terrorism: Refuse to Be Terrorized | Danger Room | Wired.com. Being that we just marked the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorists attack in NYC the above article should get us thinking about what we have been for these past ten years. Just what is terrorism, lets look at the definition: Terrorism (noun) The use of violence or threats to intimidate or coerce, especially … Continue reading Living In Terror, Have They Won??
I have been in an artsy mood lately so have been playing with my photo portfolio. I have decided to make the header picture here into what I call “A Slice of Life”. This will be where I select a picture from my portfolio and take a narrow slice out of it. In some cases the picture will make sense; in others it will be … Continue reading A Slice of Life….
This post is a tribute to all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and everyday since then: To the 3,000 who lost their lives because of the terrorist attacks. To the 100,000 Coalition Soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq. To the 13,000 Coalition Soldiers killed and wounded in Afghanistan. To the 400,000 Iraqi Citizens who have been killed or wounded. To the 410,000 U.S. … Continue reading A Tribute To….
Occasionally I look back over some of my previous posts and discover that they defined a milestone in my life. I wanted to bring this one forward again as one of those moments. This was the point in my life where I discovered I really am a “senior”. Somewhat disturbing at the time but an accepted norm today. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> January 2, 2010 By RJ As you know I … Continue reading Looking Back On My Favorite Personal Posts….
Be the change you want to see in the world. — Gandhi These words from Gandhi have great meaning to me. They are a big part of who I am. As evidenced by the vitriolic atmosphere in the world today we have so many tools that allow us to complain, I would even call it ranting, about anything we disagree with. Just look at the … Continue reading Be the change you want to see in the world. [Gandhi]
I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work. So I do it three or four times a day. ~Gene Perret I don’t know anything about the author of this quote but the message strikes home with me 🙂 One of the first things I did when I retired was to take off my wrist watch and shut off the alarm clock. … Continue reading Taking Naps….
I came across this long time ago picture of “Mama-son”. She was with us over fifteen years. She had a regal way about her. Continue reading Our Beloved Pets…
I recently finished watching the re-make of the old film The Day The Earth Stood Still. That is a story about how an advanced race of aliens came to save the earth. The way they were going to save it was by eliminating the inhabitants who were destroying it. That being us! One of the statements made by the other world visitors was that we who inhabit … Continue reading All I Know – A Destructive Race…
I have a scheme for stopping war. It’s this – no nation is allowed to enter a war till they have paid for the last one. Will Rogers This goes in line with a previous post about paying for wars. We seem to always be ready to point out other countries problems to them and part of our solution is to teach them how to … Continue reading Stopping wars….
One thing Labor Day used to be about was a parade. This digitized picture was taken in 1990 somewhere in the northwestern U.S. I never recorded, nor remember, the exact location….. Continue reading Labor Day Parade…
Here it is Labor Day. I have always wondered just what Labor day is really about and why it is at the end of summer. Here is what I found out about it from my old friend Wikipedia: The first big Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882, by the Central Labor Union of New York. It became a federal holiday in 1894, … Continue reading Labor Day Thoughts….
I am a spiritual person. I believe our spirit is what sets us apart from everything else on the earth. It is what makes us human. So to make this blog a true reflection of my life’s experiences it is necessary to add this category. I do this with some hesitancy. I am inspired by many people and things that cross my life’s path. I … Continue reading Things Spiritual…
Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today. — Will Rogers This is one of the quotes from Will that gets me thinking rather deeply. Besides loving the song Yesterday by the Beatles I don’t really believe in fixating on yesterday. Too many of us seniors just spend too much time there. We look back on our life instead of looking forward to tomorrow. Yes … Continue reading Yesterday….
RJ's Corner 